March 17, 2023
The government has issued a total ban on imports of Apple’s iPhone 14, probably to stop the huge drain of money going outside the country due to the brand’s immense popularity in Iran.
The report by the Tasnim news agency February 16 said the ban took effect February 20.
Iran imported mobile phones costing $2.3 billion in the first 10 months of the current Persian year. Mobile phones made up 4.7 percent of all imports in that time span and iPhone 14s comprised more than one-third of all mobile phone imports.
Mobile phones are largely imported by private companies who obtain hard currency at a government-controlled secondary exchange market.
In remarks in September 2020, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi called for a ban on excessive imports of luxury products, including a certain unnamed phone model manufactured in the US, to conserve the country’s financial resources.
