Collins Ndlovu:
Trump’s announcement stands to reduce SA-Iran trade target of 80 billion dollars, these include oil imports, giant cellular phone network MTN.
The Iranian ambassador to South Africa said on Tuesday that he hoped US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal would not affect the relationship with South Africa and Iran.
But some analysts in International Political Economy argues that history has shown that is likely that trade relations may be affected given the US heavily investment in South Africa.
Trump’s Tuesday announcement to withdraw from the highly widely-praised deal, and also announced the highest level of sanctions would be imposed on Iran.
He also added that any country with continued support for Iran also risked sanctions being imposed on them.
These pronouncements and decisions could have significant implications on trade plans between South Africa and Iran.
Previously, sanctions imposed on Iran by the US saw a big decline in trade between the countries, whereby oil sales were particularly hit.
In 2004, according to StatsSA, South Africa bought 8-million tonnes of crude oil from Iran, and the country was the third –biggest exporter of oil to South Africa in 2011.
However, Hameed Amouhadi, chairman of the South African Iran Trade Desk said that if the conditions were right, and the nuclear deal stayed in place, the potential was huge.
