Azernews.Az

By Umid Niayesh/ Trend

In recent years, there were always claims in Iran that the Islamic Republic’s trade ties surged under ‎the ex-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Washington became Tehran’s first trade partner ‎during the administration of the pragmatic president, who was at office from 1989 to 1997.‎

The claim was first raised in the 1990s by Asr-e-Ma, an analytical weekly, established by left-hand ‎Organization of the Islamic Revolution Mojahedin (OIRM), which later became one of the core ‎parties of the reformist wing in Iran.‎

The speculation raised again by hardliner conservatives during the Hassan Rouhani presidency, after the ‎Islamic Republic reached a historic nuclear deal with the US-led Western powers in 2015, which paved the ‎path to removal of international sanctions against Tehran.‎

What the claims say:‎

According to the claims, the US increased its annual trade with Iran to $5 billion during the ‎Rafsanjani period and became Tehran’s "first trade partner," in particular in 1991-1995, in a bid to ‎dominate the Islamic Republic economically and make Tehran dependent on Washington.‎

The US oil firms were purchasing 30 percent of Iran’s crude directly and bringing into account the ‎indirect crude purchases, almost 50 percent of Iran’s export was sold to US firms and nearly 35 ‎percent of Iran's foreign exchange earnings were provided through the United States.‎

However, in 1995 a total embargo on dealings with Iran by American companies was imposed by ‎then president, Bill Clinton. This ended trade, which had been growing following the end of the ‎Iran–Iraq War (1980-1988). The next year, the American Congress passed the Iran-Libya Sanctions ‎act, designed to prevent other countries from making large investments in Iranian energy.‎

The official figures

Despite the "$5 billion turnover" and "first trade partner" claims, indirect business is ‎not included in two countries trade turnover. ‎

The official statistics indicate that before the Islamic Revolution, the mutual trade between Tehran and ‎Washington experienced the highest value in 1978, when the US exports to Iran accounted to $3.7 ‎billion. The same year Iran’s imports from the US reached $2.9 billion. On the verge of the ‎revolution, the US and West Germany were Iran’s top trade partners.‎

The US was exporting technology, industrial equipment as well as agricultural and consumer goods to ‎Iran.‎

Tehran and Washington broke off diplomatic relations following the seizure of US embassy staff in ‎Tehran in the months after the 1979 revolution. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were ‎held hostage for 444 days (Nov. 4, 1979-Jan. 20, 1981), after a group of Iranian students supporting ‎the Iranian Revolution took over the embassy.‎

In 1981, the first year after releasing the hostages, US exports to Iran accounted to $300 million, ‎against $64 million worth of imports.‎

In the following years, the mutual trade between the two countries was changing, going up and down, ‎but never again witnessed record figures registered before the Islamic Revolution.‎

The US energy firms, reportedly continued crude oil purchase from Iran, worth $3.5 billion per year, ‎via their subsidiaries till the mid-1990s, when sanctions were broadened.‎

Three decades of trade ties

In the years following the Islamic Revolution, the Iran-US mutual trade fluctuated from year to year, ‎experiencing the highest value in 1987, but it registered a sharp fall and came down to zero, in 1996, after ‎the Clinton administration imposed new sanctions against Tehran in 1995.‎

The trade was restored in 2000 when bans on carpets and caviar imports from Iran were lifted.‎

In 2008, bilateral trade totaled over $787 million, registering a 148 percent increase, ‎which was followed by a sharp fall the next year, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became ‎Iran’s president for the second term.‎

Removal of international sanctions against Tehran in 2016 only contributed to Iran’s imports to US, ‎which experienced a 700-percent rise year on year to ‎$88 million, meanwhile the overall trade stood at $216 million, 11 percent less than the preceding ‎year.‎

The latest statistics released by the United States Census Bureau reveal that the condition has worsened compared to 2016.‎

Mutual trade turnover between the two countries stood at $159.7 million during the first ten months ‎of 2017, 23 percent less year on year.‎

The US exports to Iran reached $109.8 million in the 10-month period (18 percent less year on year), ‎meanwhile Iran’s export to US decreased by about 3 percent to $49.9 million in the same time span.‎

The table below covers the trade information between Iran and the US in 1985-2016 (based on data from the US Census Bureau):