Main import partners of Iran 2022

This statistic shows Iran's main import partners in 2022, sorted by their share in total imports. In 2022, Iran's main import partner was the China with a share of 28 percent in all imports. 

Iran's struggling economy

Iran’s main import partners in descending order of importance include the United Arab Emirates, China, Algeria, India, South Korea and Turkey. Together the United Arab Emirates and China compose over 50 percent of all imports. No European countries or the United States are close trade partners with Iran for neither imports nor exports.

Iran has been isolated from the west with sanctions due to concerns over the country's role in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction for decades. In 2011, further sanctions on Iran from the United States and Europe were agreed upon, which negatively affected Iran’s economy. This also had an effect on the value of totalimports into the country which also dropped slightly around the same period. This is likely due to the fact that Iran’s GDP per capita also reduced significantly thereafter, limiting the country’s capacity to import goods. Compared to the GDP per capita of Saudi Arabia, Iran’s is significantly lower. Aside from the Saudi Arabian oil trade, one difference could be attributed to the fact that Saudi Arabia, in contrast to Iran, has developed strong international ties and trades freely with Europe and the United States, whereas Iran remains isolated for the time being.