TEHRAN- “The U.S. sought to impede Iran’s international trade by imposing cruel and unilateral sanctions on the country but our trade with the world is being done easily and we are not in lack of any type of basic goods,” Mehdi Mirashrafi, the recently appointed head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), announced in a news conference, IRIB reported on Sunday.

“During the first 10 months of the present Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2018 - January 21, 2019), Iran exported $36.3 billion of [non-oil] goods and imported $35.6 billion,” Mirashrafi said, “which is equal to a positive trade balance of one billion dollars.”

“This happened under the conditions that the U.S. tried to avert our exports and impede imports,” he added.

HJ/MA