US sanctions cause big losses for Iraqi investors in Iran
As the United States reactivates sanctions against Tehran, Iraqi investors in Iran are taking major economic hits and some businesses are being forced to close.
The Iranian economy has spiraled out of control since a new set of US-enforced sanctions against trade with Iran went into force Aug. 7, as its currency value has been plummeting ever since while inflation rates are on the rise. Iraqi investors in Iran have been far from immune from the fallout.
While those investors have endured significant losses in light of the currency’s plunge, the Iraqi government has opted for discretion, refusing to reveal the number and size of their investments. Both the Iraqi Ministry of Trade and the Iraqi Consul on Trade at the Iraqi Embassy in Tehran refrained from responding to Al-Monitor’s questions in this regard.
On the other hand, Al-Monitor had the chance to interview a number of Iraqi businessmen based in Iran to make sense of the damages they have suffered. One investor, Saad al-Ziadi, said, “I put an irretrievable, the equivalent of $100,000, as a fixed deposit in an Iranian bank at a 15% interest rate.” It seems things didn’t pan out very well. “The Iranian currency has been free-falling at an alarming rate,” Ziadi stressed.
“The $100,000 I’ve entrusted has an approximate value of $50,000 right now,” he added. “Thousands of Iraqis have done as I did, and now they’ve lost over half their capital.”
