🔶 Reuters: Iran buys goods and military equipment from China via oil-for-goods exchange

Reuters reported on Thursday, 19 Shahrivar (10 September), that Iran has used a mechanism similar to a barter arrangement to circumvent sanctions and sell its oil, and has bought goods from China worth billions of dollars, including military equipment.

Two Iranian sources and three individuals familiar with the matter told Reuters that this secret commercial mechanism, in which Iranian oil is exchanged for credit to purchase imported goods from China, has provided a vital source of financing for Iran in recent years, amid the intensification of economic and military pressure by the United States on Tehran over this country’s nuclear program.

These sources emphasized that the mechanism has also helped China, as the world’s largest importer of crude oil, to preserve its access to discounted and cheap Iranian oil, while keeping banks and exporting companies of goods to the Islamic Republic of Iran out of international oversight or penalties.