According to official statistics over the past seven years, out of more than $169 billion in exports of refinery, petrochemical, and metal products, over $38 billion has not been repatriated to Iran. The state-run Tasnim news agency noted that steel and copper companies are at the top of the list of violators.
Hossein Samsami, a member of the Economic Committee of Iran’s regime parliament, stated on Thursday, October 9, that based on official statistics, from 2022 to 2025, total exports of refinery, petrochemical, and metal products reached more than $90 billion, but 26.7% of the foreign currency earned from these exports has not returned to Iran.
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According to him, this figure was around 18% between 2018 and 2022.
Previously, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on March 10, 2025, criticizing large companies such as petrochemical firms—most of which are affiliated with regime institutions—for refusing to repatriate their export revenues.
The state-run newspaper Farhikhtegan wrote on September 20 that for nearly a decade, one of the major obstacles to the repatriation of export revenues has been the widespread use of “rented trade cards” by individuals or companies.
According to Farhikhtegan, these individuals or companies rent commercial cards from others—often impoverished or low-income people—to export goods, and in addition to not returning the export revenues, they also evade paying taxes and other state dues.
Tasnim reported that according to official figures, over the past three years, refinery product exports totaled $32.7 billion, of which $8.7 billion—about 26.6%—has not been returned.
In the same period, petrochemical exports totaled $24.5 billion, with $2.7 billion—11% of the total—remaining unrepatriated. Meanwhile, metal product exports amounted to $33.7 billion, of which $12.9 billion—38.2%—have not been returned.
These statistics were released despite the March 2022 amendment to Iran’s anti-smuggling law, which requires all exporters to repatriate 100% of their export revenues, with noncompliance subject to legal prosecution.
The Central Bank and the Currency Repatriation Task Force had previously warned that exporters who fail to meet their currency return commitments would be listed as currency violators and face trade restrictions.
Such warnings had been issued before. For instance, the state-run ISNA news agency reported on July 21, 2020, that government bodies warned exporters who fail to repatriate export revenues would face penalties such as “revocation or non-renewal of trade cards, suspension of import registration privileges, denial of facilities and services like the green customs channel, refusal of guarantees, and repayment of customs duties and tariffs.”
Authorities also threatened that the Tax Administration would revoke all tax exemptions and incentives for exporters failing to repatriate export revenues. The Central Bank would withhold foreign exchange allocation certificates, and commercial banks would suspend both rial and foreign currency facilities and guarantees for these individuals.
Previously, according to Samad Karimi, director of the Export Department of the Central Bank, around $27.5 billion in export revenues had not returned to Iran’s main economic cycle.
However, a review of reports from recent years shows that such warnings have been ineffective. As Tasnim notes, the available data indicate a significant gap between the law and the actual rate of currency repatriation.
