Page 42 - IRANRptJun19

namely with Turkey, would be helpful in neutralising threats to Iran's internet network.
He said that unilateral sanctions imposed on Tehran by the US would not affect internet links between Iran and Turkey.
During previous rounds of sanctions on Iran, the US used its weight to force regional internet providers to not cooperate with Iran. That resulted in a loss of internet connectivity and a general reduction of internet connection speeds in 2014.
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
A senior Iranian agricultural official has pointed the finger at Turkish wholesale traders as partly responsible for steep increases seen in vegetable prices in Iran, ILNA reported on May 29.
Iran has previously attempted to lock down its vegetable market , with, for instance, an export ban introduced on tomatoes and tomatoe purees to neighbouring countries. Traders in those countries took advantage of the steep depreciation of the Iranian rial (IRR) caused by reintroduced heavy US sanctions and fixed pricing of products inside Iran.
Reza Noorani, head of the Iranian Agricultural Produce Association, said Turkish merchants and the recent massive flooding seen in parts of Iran were contributing factors in vegetable price inflation.
“A lack of supervision over exports has led to Turkish businessmen coming to [Iran’s] fruit and vegetable markets, and they buy products wholesale at these markets so that a certain product is suddenly difficult to find on the market,” he said.
“When there is no [governmental] supervision over exports, profiteers using temporary business cards step into any market which ensures their interests,” he added.
Turkish traders have reportedly even gone straight to Iranian farmers to request direct purchasing of produce for export to Turkey, Noorani said.
“In the season when a special product is harvested, Turkish businessmen go to farms in a province and buy the produce before it is offered on the market. So... the product does not reach consumers on the [domestic] market,” IFP reported him as also saying.
Legal and illegal exports from Iran of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) that exploit the collapsed rial have skyrocketed during the sanctions squeeze. Thousands of traders from all of Iran’s neighbours have bought thousands of tonnes of products for shipping to their home markets.
Iran’s northern and western neighbours have been singled out as the most aggressive in these market flows. There have even been shootouts involving smugglers on the flat Azerbaijan-Iran hinterlands in recent months. To thwart illegal trading, Iran has closed borders with areas in Iraq under the Kurdistan Regional Government, while Turkey has erected a fence.
9.1.7 Property sector news
Iran’s residential rental market has reached its breaking point, with tenants unable to afford price hikes any longer, according to an Iranian real estate expert cited by IRNA.
The dizzying drop in the value of the Iranian rial (IRR) against a basket of hard currencies by some 65-70% in the past 12 months under the economic pressure generated by US sanctions has led landlords to jack up rents. Annual rental agreements in Iran are now often renegotiated due to sudden increases
42 IRAN Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com