Diplomatic ties are non-existent between Iran and the US and a draconian sanctions regime is in place but their minuscule trade holds on, with curious items on the list. 

Cats and dogs, dairy cows, egg laying chicken breeds, human and animal blood, surgical suture and cosmetics are some of the peculiar items imported from the Yankeeland.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), US exports to Iran totaled $154.1 million last year. Iran’s exports to the United States during the period stood at a paltry $195,000.

Iranian goods included laminated sheets, tropical wood, wall and mantel clocks as well as wrist and pocket watches.

According to the US Bureau of the Census, bilateral trade in the first two months of this year rose to $30 million from $24.2 million during the similar period in 2014, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.

American exports constituted the entire figure, with no Iranian imports recorded in the period, it added.

Iranians exported large quantities of carpets and pistachio nuts to the US before sanctions were intensified against the Islamic Republic in 2010.

However, official figures do not include illegal imports and conspicuously missing from the list are luxury cars which are imported in increasing numbers.

Iran’s expansion of its free trade zones has resulted in a rise in the number of muscle cars imported from neighboring countries.

In the northwestern city of Tabriz, American Dodges are a familiar sight. They are shipped in through the Aras zone near the border with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

However, Iranian patients with special diseases such as cancer suffer under the sanctions which have made procurement of medicine enormously hard.

Medicines are exempted from the sanctions but US and European ban on financial transactions has practically made critical supplies impossible.

By Press TV