Iran-Russia Gyrating Trade Grows

Trade between Iran and Russia fluctuated wildly in the three decades after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. 
It plummeted by 65% between 2010 and 2015 during the UN sanctions on Iran, then nearly quadrupled by 2022 after international sanctions were lifted. A new trade route opened and a budding military alliance deepened. 
“We in Iran have no limits on expanding ties with Russia,” President Ebrahim Raisi told Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2022.
Tehran and Moscow also found common cause after being isolated by the global trading system and losing access to Western markets. Iran has faced international pressure over advances in its nuclear program since 2019, while Russia was condemned for its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Iran Primer wrote. Excerpts follow:
In 2022, Iranian trade with Russia was under $5 billion, less than a third of its $15 billion trade with China on goods, excluding oil (which was Iran’s main export to China).