Iran does not consider UAE as a major trading partner for post-sanction period

Almaty. January 11. Silkroadnews - Iran does not consider the UAE as a major trading partner for the post-sanction period, the Tehran Times newspaper wrote.
“The United Arab Emirates (UAE) benefited a lot from years of the West-led economic sanctions against Iran as the neighbor country had turned into a number one trade partner of Iran through acting as a broker buying products and services from different countries and selling them to Iran,” the report said.
“We had noticeable trade with the UAE and it was a proper partner for us during the sanctions, but in our foreign trade during the first nine months [of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-December 21, 2017)] the highest fall has been in our trade with the UAE due to several reasons including the political one,” the agency quoted saying by Mohammad Lahouti, the head of Iran Exports Confederation.
“Following the implementation of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (which lifted the sanctions against Iran in January 2016), it is natural that a country, which as a neighbor used to play a dealer role between Iran and the other countries, now is a less important partner, as the other countries have come, like South Korea, which did not make any deal with Iran during the sanctions, while it is now among the first five trade partners of Iran. And also Germany, which was not even among the ten trade partners of Iran in the sanctions time, is now among the five top European countries from which we are importing products. Meanwhile, we experienced over hundred percent growth in trade with Europe after the sanctions,” Lahouti explained.
Another reason for decline in the importance of the UAE as a trading partner is the way the Arab country treats Iranian traders, for example, depriving them of opportunity to use the banking services of Emirates NBD, one of the largest banking groups in the Middle East. There are also some difficulties with issuing visas to the Iranian citizens.
Taking into account all these factors, it makes sense for Iran to switch to expanding trade with another neighbor, for example, with Oman, with which Iran has proper geopolitical relations.