Mahmoud Sayadat, head of the Iran-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce, said the UN “snapback” mechanism has little impact on Iran’s economic ties with the Taliban administration.
He stressed that the two sides remain “coordinated and aligned” on regional and global developments.
Speaking to an Iranian news agency on 1 October, Sayadat said the effect of the sanctions is minimal because trade with Afghanistan is conducted mainly through land routes. He called for improvements at the Milak border, which links Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province to Afghanistan’s Nimruz province, including opening a second bridge to ease cargo movement and boost Chabahar’s role in Afghan transit trade.
According to Iranian officials, annual trade between the two countries through the Dogharoon crossing amounts to around $3 billion.
The remarks follow the European Union’s 29 September announcement that nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, previously suspended, had been reimposed after the activation of the snapback mechanism. The United Kingdom, France and Germany triggered the process a month earlier.
A resolution put forward by China and Russia to block the mechanism failed at the UN Security Council on 26 September, leading to the reinstatement of all UN sanctions on Iran at 3:30 a.m. local time on 28 September.
The European Union subsequently said it would once again freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank and several major lenders, while also reimposing bans on Iranian cargo flights to EU airports. Measures preventing the servicing of Iranian cargo aircraft and ships carrying prohibited goods were also reinstated.
