BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 19. The insufficient use of Iran's southern ports has created additional costs for the country's import and export of products due to the U.S. naval blockade and a number of other problems, Ehsan Malekzadeh, President of the International Transport Companies of Iran, told local media, Trend reports.
According to him, since the ports aren't used to the maximum, most of the necessary products imported to Iran must be transported to Iran from Turkish ports. Previously, the cost of transporting goods from Turkish ports to Iran was $1,500, but now this cost is at least $3,000.
Malekzadeh said that currently, the border crossing points with the most crossings in the country are Bazargan, Astara, Poldasht, Incheburun, Dogarun, Rimdan, Taftan, Mehran, and Shalamche. Long lines of trucks are observed at customs border points for product exports.
He added that the Turkish side receives 250 trucks daily from the Bazargan border crossing point on the border with Türkiye.
The official noted that, moreover, technical and software problems, the large number of departments operating at the border crossing points, and the lack of coordination between related agencies result in long queues for trucks.
"As a result of these problems, truck queues at the border crossing point sometimes reach 20 days. If the current daily cost of each truck is calculated at $100 and 3,000 trucks are waiting in line at the border crossing point, it should be taken into account that this cost will exceed $10 million per month," he pointed out.
Meanwhile, as no tangible progress was made in the nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, the situation escalated on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched military airstrikes against Iran. In retaliation, Iran initiated missile and drone strikes targeting Israeli and U.S. installations in the region. Following these developments, a two-week ceasefire agreement was brokered on April 7 through Pakistan's mediation. However, during subsequent talks between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad on April 11, no consensus was reached.
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