Iran's Trade Promotion Organization chief calls for a three-year suspension of the anti-smuggling law

Mohammad-Ali Dehghan Dehnavi, head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization and a deputy industry, mining and trade minister, said 90 percent of the country's trade problems stem from the Law on Combating the Smuggling of Goods and Currency, and proposed suspending the law for three years. His remarks were published early on Thursday, 30 July 2026 (8 Mordad 1405).

The debate follows a statement earlier this week by Zabihollah Khodaeian, head of the General Inspection Organization, that $94 billion in export proceeds has not been repatriated, a sum he said could cover the country's medicine and essential goods bill for up to six years.

Hossein Samsami, a member of parliament, defended the law, saying export proceeds must return to the country to manage the currency market and that obstructing the law pushes the exchange rate higher. Mohammad-Reza Ghofrollahi, head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce trade development commission, said currency-commitment settlement would sit better in commercial law, because the current law was drafted as a judicial and punitive instrument rather than a facilitating one.