ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s General Directorate of Trade and Industry says it has not received any instructions to suspend imports of specific products from Iran following the United States’ latest sweeping sanctions against Tehran, an official told Rudaw late Tuesday.
“Regarding the impact of US sanctions on trade exchange between the Kurdistan Region and Iran, the decisions are still new and have not yet entered the implementation phase," Nawzad Sheikh Kamil, director general of trade at the Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Trade and Industry, told Rudaw's Solin Hamadamin, noting that, however, they "must wait for the coming days for the actual effects on the Kurdistan Region to become clear.”
His remarks come two days after the US Treasury Department announced what it described as an “unprecedented” economic campaign against Iran, dubbed Operation Economic Outcast.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, according to the department.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected the US campaign on Sunday, calling the so-called Economic D-Day "a diversion" from Washington’s own economic problems.
“The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America's own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs,” Araghchi said Thursday. “Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat – and enmity of Iranians. US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.”
The campaign targets networks and financial channels that Washington says Iran uses to evade sanctions, smuggle oil and generate revenue for the government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Kamil said imports of essential goods, including food and dairy products, will continue provided the companies involved are not subject to US sanctions.
“According to US laws, sanctions do not include food products, medicine, and health supplies. Therefore, the import of food, dairy, and vegetables will continue, but on the condition that the companies conducting the business are not on the US blacklist,” he said.
Kamil added that the directorate has so far received no instructions to halt imports of any particular product from Iran.
“Whenever we receive new instructions, we will inform the relevant parties and traders through the media,” he said.
The Treasury Department announced sanctions against nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels across multiple jurisdictions, while expanding exposure to secondary sanctions for businesses continuing to deal with the Iranian government in sectors including digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping.
The measures also target Iranian oil-revenue networks and shadow-fleet vessels accused of transporting Iranian crude and petroleum products, as well as networks involved in procuring sensitive nuclear and missile technology.
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