Israel Matzav

How 'bout them sanctions?

One measure of the effectiveness of the sanctions against Iran is (or ought to be) the volume of trade between Iran and other countries. By that measure, the sanctions are an abject failure. Apparently, while the sanctions have had an effect on imports into Iran, Iran continues to export freely, bringing in massive amounts of cash for the 'Islamic Republic.'

Trade between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council has soared despite a newly imposed round of international economic sanctions on Iran, the semi-official Iranian news broadcaster Press TV has claimed.

A Press TV report claimed that while Iranian imports from the U.S. and the U.K. have suffered under the new sanctions regime, exports to both countries rose by 76 percent and 61 percent, respectively, over the last four months. Trade with China, by many account’s Iran’s most important trading partner, saw a 50 percent rise in exports and a 40 percent rise in imports, the news agency found.

...

The only country among the six to record a decrease in both import and export was Russia, with Iranian exports to Russia falling by 20 percent and imports by 8 percent over the same period.

“The sanctions haven’t significant impact on Iran’s trade at least in short run,” Dr. Amir Hossein Mozayani of the Economic Research Center at Tarbiat Modares University in Iran told The Media Line. “The reported trade values are due to the previous contracts and may be affected more over the coming months.”

“Maybe this data refers to a cyclical part of trade that goes up in first half of the year and goes down in second half,” he said. “The P5+1 countries also weren’t able to convince their private companies to accept the recent sanctions, especially in the current recession.”

“Iran will be able to cope with the situation,” Dr Mozayani added. “There may just be higher prices on imports and lower prices on exports or more insurance charges or something.”

That'll sure stop Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:54 PM