Iran is increasingly relying on its northern ports for imports, with officials saying more than 30% of goods now enter the country via Russia and the Caspian Sea rather than through the Indian Ocean.
Iran's Deputy Minister for Trade Development at the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, Mohammad Reza Talaei, said the shift has helped the country avoid what he described as the risk of a "complete economic blockade".
"By changing the route from the Indian Ocean to the routes through Russia and the Caspian Sea, we have been able to confront the threat of a complete economic blockade," Talaei said in remarks carried by state news agency IRNA.
According to Talaei, northern ports now account for more than 30% of the country's total imports. He said most cargo arriving through those ports consists of essential agricultural commodities, including wheat, barley, maize and oilseeds, largely supplied by countries across Eurasia.
The shift reflects Tehran's broader effort to deepen trade with Russia and other Eurasian partners while reducing reliance on southern maritime routes through the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Iran has also been expanding transport links through the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which connects India, Iran, the Caspian region and Russia by rail, road and sea.
The latest figures underscore the growing importance of Iran's northern ports as the country seeks to diversify its trade routes and safeguard imports of strategic goods amid sanctions and regional instability.
Read more:
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical li...
A tenth-grade student was critically injured after a man attacked her with a chainsaw inside a classroom in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur distri...
Cryptocurrencies are volatile, and their crashes make headlines. But does a slump in digital coins ever spill over into the pounds, dollars and eur...
The Middle East conflict remains tense as diplomatic efforts continue alongside renewed Houthi attacks. Iran says it remains open to mediation, while the Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the kingdom.
Evacuations and the provision of humanitarian aid in the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky have begun, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday. In a statement on Telegram, David Arakhamia said a six-day ceasefire was holding, and that more details would follow.
Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of efforts to reach a deal between the U.S. and Iran, according to an official briefed on the talks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia remains willing to rebuild relations with European countries but warned that any wider conflict on the continent would leave no winners, as he commented on recent diplomatic contacts with Nordic leaders and growing security concerns in the Baltic region.
Hackers have pulled off a staggering $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist targeting Binance, shaking confidence in one of the world's biggest digital asset exchanges and sending crypto prices tumbling. U.S. analysts suspect North Korea was behind the attack.
A tenth-grade student was critically injured after a man attacked her with a chainsaw inside a classroom in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district. The girl suffered severe injuries to her head, neck and back, while a classmate who tried to protect her was also hurt.
Deep divisions over Russia's war in Ukraine overshadowed a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on Friday, as European officials criticised Moscow's participation and refused to join a traditional group photograph with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global body responsible for monitoring money laundering and terrorist financing risks, has removed four countries from its so-called “grey list” after determining they had made sufficient progress in addressing weaknesses in their financial cr
The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 5,000, according to government figures released on Friday, as health authorities continue to struggle to contain the country's worst-ever Ebola epidemic.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment