Iran – The Ruggist

Embargo On… Again | Iran Sanctions

Michael Christie 4 June 2018 17 May 2023

Pursuant to this directive once the first wind-down period ends on 6 August 2018, the government of the United States will revoke several JCPOA related authorizations regarding sanctions on Iran, namely: The importation into the United States of Iranian origin carpets and foodstuffs and certain related financial transactions pursuant to general licenses under the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 560 (ITSR). Further information regarding sanctions can be found from the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). In short, importation of Iranian made carpets into the United States after 6 August 2018 will – once again – be illegal. No other country currently has plans to enact an embargo on Iranian made carpets.

Iranian Carpet Embargo – The End!

Michael Christie 18 February 2016 17 May 2023

It gives me great joy to announce the United States’ embargo and ban on the importation of Iranian produced rugs and carpets has been lifted. In accordance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on 16 January 2016 certified Iran had fulfilled its initial obligations under the JCPOA and thus ‘Implementation Day’ came to pass and with it the end of the embargo. Throughout my lifetime the embargo has been enacted and rescinded on numerous occasions in various efforts to force The Islamic Republic of Iran into compliance with geopolitical ideologies we shall not again discuss; politics, religion, and all that.

Lift Embargo: Iranian Rug Trade to Resume

Michael Christie 20 July 2015 17 May 2023

For the entirety of my life, including but not necessarily limited to my career in the world of rugs, the position of the United States toward Iran has shifted numerous times. Waffling somewhere between a cozy unorthodox trade arrangement leading to unpunished imperialistic hubris (Iran-Contra) and the ostracization of an all-of-sudden-we-cannot-talk-to-you-because-lame-reason now and then pariah State, the treatment of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the West can best be described as a school yard pissing contest where the later wins because it has managed to curtail the supply of fluids to the former. The Iranian embargo has done far more to foment resentment toward the West than to encourage popular (read: acceptable to the West) change, and overall has been decidedly unkind to the people of Iran and by extension the Iranian carpet weaving industry. With the recent announcement of the deal struck between Western powers and the Government of Iran however, it once again appears as though trade of Iranian made carpets will resume. Rug and Carpet dealers rejoice!