Iran-US Trade Exceeded $16 Million in Five Months

Despite the decline in five-month trade, bilateral exchanges in May 2021 amounted to $4.2 million, up 50% compared with $2.8 million in May 2020. 

Latest data released by the US Census Bureau show Iran exported $0.2 million worth of goods to the US in the five months, indicating a 93.2% year-on-year fall.

Imports from the US stood at $16.4 million during the same period, down 4.7% from $17.2 million during the last fiscal year.

Iran didn’t have any exports to the US in May, while its imports totaled $4.2 million, indicating a 50% YOY increase.

The country’s commercial exchanges with the US amounted to $40.2 million in 2020, posting a 48.53% decline compared with 2019. It exported $3.9 million worth of goods to the US during last year, indicating a 178.57% year-on-year rise.

Imports from the US stood at $36.3 million during the period, down 52.67% YOY.

Iran-US trade amounted to $74.5 million in 2019 to register an 84.97% decline compared to the year before. Iran exported only $1.4 million worth of goods to the US last year, down 98% YOY. Imports from the US totaled $73.1 million in 2019, down by 82.83% YOY.

In 2018, the value of trade between the two countries increased by 155% compared to 2017, after the reimposition of US sanctions on Iran. However, it has been falling drastically ever since.

JCPOA Revival to Boost Iran’s Economy 

Iran and the US are holding indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The talks seek to revive a landmark pact under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions, which opened the way for a brief thaw in decades of US-Iranian confrontation, according to Reuters.

The twice-impeached US president, Donald Trump, abandoned the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. His successor Joe Biden has said he wants to restore the deal's nuclear limits and if possible extend them to cover issues such as Iran's missile program. Iran wants all sanctions lifted and no expansion of the terms.

The revival of the deal is expected to help boost Iran’s oil exports and economy.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday Vienna talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal are nearing "conclusion".

"Given the progress that has been made [in recent negotiations], we can say that we are close to the conclusion of Vienna talks," Saeed Khatibzadeh added during his weekly press conference.

He said that there are still some unresolved issues, but what matters is that "the resolved issues outweigh the unresolved issues".

The spokesman noted that since the fresh negotiations were initiated in April, a long way has been taken to tackle the issues. However, he added that the remaining path is not smooth.

"We hope that other parties could make their own decisions, which will result in an agreement to benefit everyone," he said.

He stressed that what Iranian officials unanimously agree upon is that Washington should remove the sanctions effectively, and then Iran will resume its obligations "as soon as the full implementation of the deal is verified".

Khatibzadeh stressed that additional demands beyond JCPOA by some parties are irrelevant to the potential deal.