Trump threatens to isolate Iran. Who are its trading partners?

Trump threatens to isolate Iran. Who are its trading partners?

Key points

• Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran rose 4.5pc in January-June 2026 compared with January-June 2025, to $312.6m from $299.1m, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee.
• Iran accounted for 3.56pc of Azerbaijan's total imports, up from 2.54pc in January-June 2025.
• Azerbaijan's exports to Iran rose 2.4-fold to $15.6m from $6.4 million in January-June 2025.
• Iran accounted for $768m, or 3.6pc of neighbouring Armenia's total trade turnover in 2025, according to official Armenian statistics.
• Armenia's trade turnover with Iran reached $371.4m in the first half of 2026, marking an 8.4pc growth.

Trump threatens to isolate Iran. Who are its trading partners? Reuters Published August 20, 2026 Updated August 20, 2026 08: 40pm. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

For context, a threat by US President Donald Trump to impose unprecedented economic warfare and isolation on Iran could have implications for countries that trade with it. Trump cautioned of economic consequences for any country that supports Iran. Here are some of Iran's main trading partners over recent years.

For Pakistan, any US action against countries involved in trade or assistance to Iran could be a serious setback, analysts remarked, against the backdrop of Pakistan-Iran commitments to expand bilateral trade to $10 billion.

After past sanctions on Iran, formal trade between the two countries had come to a halt until lately. Nevertheless, informal trade has taken exports and imports from both sides to approximately $4bn, according to unofficial statistics.

After the Islamabad interim agreement was signed in June, efforts were rapidly produced to expand trade cooperation. Pakistan and Iran have for years traded oil, wheat, rice, live stocks and medicines through informal channels.

When Washington pressed on with sanctions on Tehran, india's trade with Iran dropped sharply in 2020.

Two-way trade was cut by more than two-thirds to almost $4.8bn in the fiscal year 2019-20, from $17bn in the previous year. Over the years, trade between India and Iran has fallen further, and stood at $1.63bn in the fiscal year 2025-26, according to data from India's commerce ministry.

Indian exports worth $1.3bn create for the bulk of this trade as New Delhi predominantly ships cereals, tea, coffee and spices to Iran.

Authorities in New Delhi have previously maintained that such exports continue on humanitarian grounds and should remain outside the scope of any sanctions.

China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, could face extra pressures from the US over its purchases if Trump follows through on his promise.

Over the past decade, China has created a ring-fenced system of refiners that process mainly Iranian oil and do not have much US exposure.

Iranian oil delivered to China has long been branded as Malaysian, and more lately Indonesian, and trades in a tight loop, is settled in Chinese currency and involves a chain of difficult-to-track intermediaries, say refinery sources and traders involved in the business.

In practice, the US Treasury in April imposed sanctions on a Chinese independent refinery for buying billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil and cautioned Chinese banks of secondary sanctions if they facilitated trade of Iranian oil.

"Sanctions and pressure will not solve the difficulty. China calls on all parties concerned to take responsible measures to resolve the matter through political and diplomatic means, " Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated to journalists in a briefing.

As Chinese independent refiners take advantage of discounted US-sanctioned oil, over 80 per cent of Iran's shipped oil has been destined for China.

Kpler estimates that China purchased an average of 1.38m barrels per day of Iranian oil in 2025.

In practice, the United Arab Emirates has historically been one of Iran's most critical economic lifelines, and Dubai's banks have long held substantial Iranian-linked deposits, much of them now immobilised under US sanctions.

In practice, the UAE was among Iran's largest trade partners before the war, providing 30pc of its imports worth an overall $21bn in 2024, according to the World Trade Organisation's latest figures. It additionally accounted for 13pc of Iran's exports in the same year, the data demonstrated.

Non-oil foreign trade between the two countries totalled $6.6 billion in 2024, according to UAE economy ministry data, with the vast majority of trade represented by re-exports.

This week, the UAE suspended all financial and economic transactions with Iran until further notice, citing a military escalation by Tehran with a missile threat, refocusing the spotlight on fraught ties between the countries.

Turkiye and Iran maintain significant economic ties, with Turkiye importing Iranian natural gas and exporting manufactured goods to Iran.

Turkiye has not signalled any willingness to curtail commerce with Iran, with bilateral trade standing at around $5-6bn annually, with Turkiye exporting to Iran around $3bn.

Turkiye imports almost all its natural gas consumption and Iran is a notable source, providing 13pc of all gas imports.

Iraq's trade with Iran reached more than $10bn in 2025, according to official Iraqi trade figures, with the relationship largely driven by Iranian exports of food, consumer goods and other products to the Iraqi market.

Trade declined in 2026 after the Iran war began. It climbed regional security risks and led to intermittent disruptions along key border crossings, as well as higher transport costs, noted Mohammed Karim, an Iraqi trade ministry official with knowledge of trade activities with Iran.

These conditions, combined with broader supply chain disruptions affecting the movement of goods, reduced the volume and reliability of cross-border commerce although the countries remain significant trading partners, stated Karim.

Energy is a key part of the relationship. Iraq pays Iran around $4bn to $5bn a year for natural gas, according to Iraqi energy authorities, with the gas employed to generate electricity.

Two Iraqi energy authorities stated any new US sanctions on Iraq could create significant challenges for Baghdad in maintaining payments for Iranian energy while avoiding exposure to US sanctions, particularly given existing restrictions that have forced Iraq to employ restricted accounts to settle payments.

Oman has long maintained cordial ties with Iran, dating back to before the 1979 Islamic revolution, with Muscat often acting as a mediator between Iran and other countries, including the US.

For context, the countries' trade relationship has grown over recent years, with trade of goods totalling $1.5bn in 2025 and $345m in the first four months of this year, according to data from Oman's National Centre for Statistics and Information.

Armenia's trade turnover with Iran reached $371.4m in the first half of 2026, marking an 8.4pc growth. While imports amounted to $336.9m, a 12pc rise, exports were recorded at $42.8m, a 6pc decline.

Some 20pc of Armenia's foreign trade passes through Iran. Armenia and Iran have a gas for electricity swap agreement, where Armenia uses gas supplied by Iran to create electricity. It is then sent back to Iran as well as being employed domestically in Armenia.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran rose 4.5pc in January-June 2026 compared with January-June 2025, to $312.6m from $299.1m, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee. Azerbaijan's imports from Iran rose 1.5pc to $297m from $292.7m in the same period of 2025.

In short, trump threatens to isolate Iran. Who are its trading partners? Is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.