Iran-Qatar Trade Not Affected by Pressures

Mousapour said on Tuesday, "Despite the international pressure on Qatar, the two sides have always been determined to continue their trade relationship as far as they could and through many efforts have been made over the past few days all the problems have been resolved."

He added that trade restrictions with Qatar have been removed and now there is no particular problem in trade relations between the two countries.

Mousapour went on saying that "accordingly, exports are carried out in all areas except for iron and copper, petroleum derivatives, and oil, gas and chemicals”.

"Over the past days, there were restrictions on all sectors apart from clothing and food, which have now all been removed," he stressed.

Late in February, a leading newspaper in the UAE said Washington is fearful of the growing relations between Iran and Qatar, claiming that Qatar's all-out support and financial aid to Iran have weakened Washington's attempts to sanction Tehran.

The Arabic-language al-Ittihad newspaper quoted the US foreign policy experts as saying that the policy-makers in the White House are analyzing Doha's behavior which indicates that undoubtedly Qatar is showing more tendency towards Iran rather than standing beside Washington.

They added that Iran has made success in persuading Qatar to join the agreements which bypass the US sanctions.

The newspaper also referred to the recent remarks by US analyst Michael Jones.

"Although Qatar has not declared its position to support Iran clearly and officially, the Americans are well aware that Qatar enjoys very close ties with Iran," Jones said.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Qatar in early June 2017 over charges that it supports terrorism. They have accordingly imposed a land, sea and air blockade against Qatar thus leaving only a sea and air corridor open with Iran.

This created a rise in Iran’s exports – particularly fruits and vegetables – to Qatar. Iran has also become a corridor for exports of other countries to the blockaded Persian Gulf state.

A customs report said last June that Iran had exported 216.585 tons of goods worth $47.666 million to Qatar from March 21, 2018 to May 21, 2018, showing a considerable growth in terms of value.

"Iran's export to Qatar increased five-fold times as compared with last year's corresponding period," the latest statistics of Iran's Customs Administration on foreign trade showed.

It noted that the amount of Iran’s exports to Qatar during that period of time compared to the same period last year had been increased by 64 percent and 435 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.