Iran's non-oil trade exceeds $85bn

Iran's customs authority announced Saturday that the country's non-oil trade has exceeded 85 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (starting on March 20, 2012), Press TV reported. Head of Iran's Customs Administration Abbas Memarnejad said that during the period, despite the "illegal" U.S.-engineered sanctions, Iran garnered 37.693 billion U.S. dollars from non-oil exports and its non-oil imports amounted to 48.3 billion U.S. dollars. The Islamic republic's non-oil exports mainly included gas condensate, chemical products, plastic products, fruits, nuts, carpets and fertilizers, according to Press TV. In January, Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini said that Iran continued trading with the world at a brisk pace, even though certain countries were trying to create obstacles to block the Iran's economic progress, alluding to the Western sanctions on Iran's financial and energy sectors. The West has accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.