A member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce says that the scope of US sanctions has been extended to friendly countries, including China, the UAE, and Iraq.

Mehrad Ebad told ILNA Tuesday that these countries have limited their commercial dealings with Iran.

Previously, some Iranian officials had confirmed that an important part of the country's exports rely on hidden middlemen and barters, including the exchange of oil with goods, which increases the cost of imports and reduces the profit of exports.

Ebad also stated that currently exports from Iran to Europe have reached their lowest level and the largest volume of Iranian exports to Europe, especially Eastern Europe, is carried out through Turkey.

The European Union has not yet published the trade volume for 2022 with Iran, but in 2021, it had about 900 million euros of imports from Iran, which was less than a tenth of the amount before the US imposed sanctions in 2018. Also, the European Union's exports to Iran have decreased by a third and declining to 3.9 billion euros.

Ebad went on to say that large European companies abide by the US sanctions and do not easily communicate with Iran, "but small and medium-sized companies from Germany and Italy continue to cooperate with Iran,”

If Europe's restrictions increase, “we will face a serious challenge in meeting our needs, especially in the field of technology in the oil and gas sector,” he underlined, referring to fresh European sanction being imposed on Iran for its human rights violations and supply of drones to Russia.