A member of the Iranian regime’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines reported that 12 million liters of fuel are smuggled daily from Iran to neighboring countries, adding that the annual value of this smuggled fuel is 4 billion dollars, with 3.5 billion dollars being “pure windfall profit.”
On Sunday, August 25, Ali Shams-Ardakani added that smugglers take the fuel to the city of Van in Turkey, where they barter it for clothing, shoes, and other products.
Ardakani also claimed to have the names of those involved in fuel smuggling to Turkey but refrained from disclosing them.
He stated that the price of gasoline in Afghanistan is 400,000 rials (approximately $0.66) and that Iranian fuel is also being smuggled into this market.
Reuters news agency reported last fall, citing Pakistani officials, that 4 million liters of fuel are smuggled daily from Iran to Pakistan, where it is sold cheaply at gas stations.
Ardakani did not explain how the daily smuggling of 12 million liters of fuel, requiring hundreds of large tanker trucks, could be carried out by ordinary people, but The Washington Post reported in January 2022, citing sources, that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is at the center of the large fuel smuggling network in Iran.
Transparency International ranks Iran 149th out of 180 countries in terms of financial corruption.
Due to the sharp decline in the value of the rial in recent years, Iran offers the cheapest gasoline in the world to its citizens, and the significant price difference between domestic and international markets fuels smuggling.
Ardakani states: “The smugglers illegally export fuel and simultaneously bring in contraband goods to sell in Iran for cash. In other words, they send out fuel and bring in clothing, curtains, shoes, and other items.”
This member of the Chamber of Commerce described the situation as “smuggling within smuggling,” explaining that fuel smuggling to Turkey is exchanged for smuggled clothing. He added, “I estimate that this type of smuggling has destroyed nearly sixty thousand jobs in our consumer industries.”
So far, Iranian regime officials have provided various figures on the volume of fuel smuggling out of the country.
Jalil Salari, the former head of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, said in July of this year that by monitoring the transportation sector and digitizing shipping documents, 10 million liters of gasoline are saved daily.
He explained: “According to reports, fuel smuggling occurs in such a way that diesel, which is priced at 7,000 rials per liter (approximately $0.011) domestically, is sold for 130,000 rials per liter (approximately $0.216) at the border of neighboring countries. This price difference brings significant profits to opportunists and fuel smugglers.”
According to government-set prices, state-subsidized diesel is sold for 3,000 rials per liter (approximately $0.005) and at the free market price of 6,000 rials per liter (approximately $0.01).
However, distribution service stations sometimes sell each liter of diesel for much more than the set price, ranging from 25,000 to 70,000 rials (approximately $0.041 to $0.011).
Meanwhile, Malek Shariati, a member of the Iranian Parliament and the Energy Committee, estimated that 5 million liters of gasoline and 10 million liters of diesel are smuggled daily.
