Based on Iran’s customs figures, the country’s non-oil exports to the European Union have dropped by 64% in the past 14 years.

These numbers show that Iran's non-oil exports to the European Union member countries have reached 725 million dollars in 2022, from about 2 billion in 2008.

According to the Navad-e Eqtesadi website, in addition to Britain's withdrawal from the European Union in 2020, the drop in Iran's exports to the European Union began after the withdrawal of the United States from the nuclear agreement in 2018.

Iran is also on FATF ‘blacklist’ for not adhering to several international financial conventions. The designation virtually cuts off the violators from the international banking system.

FATF is a Paris-based inter-state organization following the observance of international financial rules against money laundering and financing of terrorism.

European countries were supposed to trade with Iran through a special financial channel known as INSTEX, but the United Kingdom, France and Germany known as the E3 decided to shut down the mechanism, launched in 2019.

The INSTEX shareholders – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK – voted in favor of the dissolution at the extraordinary general assembly on March 9 considering Iran’s persistent refusal to engage with the facility.