Tehran, Iran, July 5
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
There are around 400 clothing shops that sell foreign brands in Iran, said Abolqassem Aqahossein Shirazi, chairman of Clothing Association, adding that if they lack permits, they will be closed down.
Around 300 of the shops offer replica brands and are illegal, Shirazi said and noted that 200 of them have so far been closed, IRIB news agency reported July 5.
He said the shops have three months to apply for necessary permits.
Fake brands and smuggled items have brought Iran’s fabrics industry to its knees. The country is intensifying measures to prevent goods from being smuggled into the country.
Head of Iran Sanctions Organization Alireza Jamshidi said the same day that his organization has spotted 25 warehouses full of smuggled goods.
He also said he has ordered smuggled luxury cars to be crushed in public as a show of the government’s resolve to tackle smuggling.
Cell phones are another type of goods often smuggled into the country, so much so that more than half of the cell phones now in Iran are considered smuggled goods.
