Iran’s Trading Partners Try to Avoid US Wrath

Iran, Pakistan Talk on Wheat-Iron Barter Trade

Despite the European Union oil embargo, the full banking embargo and the assorted US sanctions, Iran hasn’t disappeared off the face of the earth and, like any nation, remains active in global trade. It just isn’t as easy as it used to be.

With the US Congress and the Obama Administration constantly imposing new sanctions and issuing new threats, Iran’s trading partners are constantly on the defensive, as the countries that haven’t already gotten an official waiver from the US issue statements trying to defend their exchanges of goods and services.

Cutting Iran entirely off from international banking has also made it difficult for some traders to pay for their purchases. Greece lost a good portion of its oil imports suddenly early this month when its efforts to pay through Turkish banks simply failed, while countries like India are looking more and more for barter transactions to avoid the banks entirely.

To that end, Iranian and Pakistani officials are currently conducting negotiations on a possible barter where Iran would acquire Pakistani wheat (a poor growing season has Iran trying to import additional food) in return for Iranian iron ore.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.