Iran exported non-oil goods worth $2.2 billion to Afghanistan during an 11-month period between March 20, 2024, and February 18, 2025, according to Foroud Asgari, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Asgari, cited by the Tehran Times, said that Afghanistan ranked as Iran’s fifth-largest export destination during the period.
Efforts to expand bilateral economic ties have also included financial cooperation. On February 21, the governors of the central banks of Iran and Afghanistan met on the sidelines of a banking technology summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, to discuss strengthening monetary and banking collaboration, according to Iran’s central bank.
Earlier, in October 2024, Iranian and Taliban port officials convened to explore opportunities for Afghan private sector investment in Iran’s southeastern Chabahar Port. The meeting was attended by Iranian port authorities, local officials from Sistan and Baluchestan Province, members of parliament, and representatives from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Qasem Askari-Nasab, director general of the Ports and Maritime Department of Sistan and Baluchestan, welcomed Afghanistan’s interest in investing in Chabahar, highlighting the commercial potential of the Shahid Beheshti Port. He said that such cooperation would enhance regional trade, increase Afghanistan’s access to open waters, and strengthen economic ties between the two countries.
Hossein Roustaei, speaking at a forum hosted by Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said that Iran currently supplies 25 percent of Afghanistan’s import needs. Afghanistan, he noted, meets more than 80 percent of its market demand through imports.
In the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20–July 21, 2024), Iran exported more than $724 million in goods to Afghanistan—a 28 percent increase compared to the same period the previous year, Roustaei said.
Key export items include food products, agricultural goods, fuel, flour, cooking oil, eggs, day-old chicks, medicine, medical equipment, and construction materials.
Roustaei added that Iran currently handles about 50 percent of Afghanistan’s trade transit and has the potential to expand that share further.
