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Iran Sanctions Good for Business in Oman

(Der Spiegel-Germany) Juliane von Mittelstaedt - Arwind would prefer not to be called a smuggler. He insists he runs an import-export business specializing in "whatever Iran needs at the moment." With 150 clients to serve, business is booming due to the sanctions that have been imposed and the resulting paucity of trade between Iran and the West. The small port town of Khasab in the north of Oman is rumbling with the sound of trucks, most of them coming from the UAE next door. "Our customers travel to Dubai and place their orders there," Arwind says. "Their purchases are shipped to us by truck, and we forward them on," ferrying the goods across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran. These days, dozens of speedboats swarm into the port like wasps every morning. The Iranian smugglers can make the 85-km. trip between Khasab and the Iranian island of Qeshm some five times a day. Iran's Revolutionary Guard charges the equivalent of 40 pounds for each crossing and those who refuse to pay are arrested.
2012-01-24 00:00:00
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