For years, raw material and greenhouse equipment exports from the West to Iran have been low. The Americans and the banks won't allow them. Recent attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran and Iran's response seem to have made normal trade relations with the West more elusive than before. Meanwhile, Iranian ambitions remain as high as ever.
While there is no shortage of ambition among Iranians, there is a shortage of business with the West. That, in a nutshell, is the state of Iranian floriculture.
In 2015, the European Union, the United States, Russia, China and Iran signed a nuclear agreement, in which Iran promised to halt its nuclear weapons programme. This led to a major revival in trade between Iran and countries such as the Netherlands between 2015 and 2017, as some of the sanctions previously imposed on Iran were suspended. However, in May 2018, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement. Since then, exports of raw materials for flowers and plants from Europe and other countries to Iran have largely come to a standstill.
