Iran News

Although Iranian oil supplies to Syria have remained stable and a new Iranian credit line was activated in May, prices have not been curbed. The government recently increased the price of petrol by up to 127 percent, which has immediately impacted the cost of transportation and food.

Last month, the SyrPetro oil and gas exhibition and the CemTech cement conference were held in Damascus, highlighting potential up-and-coming local and foreign players within these industries.

The European Union and the United Kingdom sanctioned Syrian security companies and individuals, including well-known businessmen, for their involvement in the Ukrainian and Syrian conflicts.

Between 2019 and 2021, Iranian investors established more than triple the number of companies their Chinese and Russian counterparts created in Syria, according to The Syria Report’s business registry, which is wholly based on information published in Syria’s Official Gazette.

President Bashar Al-Assad and his family made their first visit to the Aleppo governorate since the beginning of the 2011 conflict. They met with several economic, social, and religious figures, participated in social engagements, and visited various infrastructural projects, including the Aleppo Thermal Power Plant, which Iran's MAPNA Group recently rehabilitated.

Kiev has announced that it will cut political and economic ties with Damascus after the latter recognised Luhansk (also spelt Lugansk) and Donetsk, two Russian-backed breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine. Kiev’s decision, which includes a trade embargo, will further deteriorate relations between the two countries and impact Syria’s trade-related foreign currency inflows. 

Iran’s crude oil exports to Syria for the second quarter of 2022 were relatively stable compared with the preceding quarter.

An affiliate of the Bemo banking group is providing microfinance loans to members of a charity linked to a militia that fought during the war and to various Iranian political figures. The charity is based in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab. Another company involved in this project is the local agent of Western Union. The move carries serious risks to the group’s reputation.

Syria’s Katerji brothers have been blacklisted by six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – in the first such known act against prominent regime-affiliated businessmen by countries of the region.

The Damascus International Airport has suspended its operations after it was heavily attacked by Israeli missiles last week.

Although the Jordan government has implicated Iran-backed militias, as well as Syrian military groups, in rising cross-border drug trafficking to Jordan, bilateral trade between Jordan and Syria has increased.

A French appeals court recently ruled against cement giant Lafarge in the latest setback for the multinational company during a five-year legal battle over its past activities in Syria.

The government has increased unsubsidised oil prices, attributing the hike to “rising global oil prices” and to its effort “to narrow the wide gap with black market prices.” Damascus has also announced a new Iranian credit line for the purchase of oil supplies from Tehran.

An Emirati-Chinese company will sponsor a renewable energy conference in Damascus next week, which may serve to highlight the United Arab Emirate’s interest in the Syrian market.

A recent 55-page report provides a comprehensive overview of the captagon drug trade in Syria, its evolution since the early 2000s, methods of production, implicated state and non-state actors, and market trends.

A recent report published by the United States Department of State on the net worth and known sources of income of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his family members has garnered criticism for its scant evidence, lack of new information, and poor quality.

Syrian insurance premiums increased by 80 percent last year, partly due to contracts with companies affiliated with the government and Khodr Ali Taher, one of Syria’s leading war profiteers, and to the growing stake of private-sector insurers in the sector, according to the Syrian Insurance Supervisory Commission.

An international transportation and logistics company based in Melbourne, Australia, recently settled in court for committing 2,958 violations of multiple sanctions programmes, including that of Syria, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.

The Ministry of Industry has decided to establish a Tartous Chamber of Industry, which would entail splitting the Tartous Chamber of Commerce and Industry into two. Tartous would become the fifth Syrian governorate to have separate chambers for commerce and industry.

For the first time in some ten years, the government has published data on the country’s current account balance, releasing information on items such as its oil trade balance, humanitarian aid, foreign grants, and remittances.