Trade between Germany and Iran declined steeply in the first months of this year, data from the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry revealed on Friday.
According to the figures, reported by the German Funke media group, exports from Europe’s largest economy to the populous Middle Eastern power plummeted by 52.6 per cent year-on-year to 233 million Euros (261 million dollars) in January and February.
It said that imports from Iran dropped by 42.2 per cent to 41 million Euros.
“The market in Iran is extremely difficult because of the U.S. sanctions and because of the country’s economic framework,’’ the head of the German-Iranian chamber of commerce, Dagmar von Bohnstein, said.
This week, Iranian President Hassan Rowhani threatened to gradually pull out of the nuclear deal with world powers because of crippling U.S. oil and banking sanctions that are hampering the Islamic Republic’s efforts to break out of its economic isolation.
One year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Washington’s exit from the 2015 pact, which has curbed Iran’s nuclear activities as a way of preventing nuclear armament.
The lifting of sanctions against Iran was a key element of the pact, but the U.S. has reimposed some punitive measures over the past year.
