December 16, 2022
Iran’s housing construction chief says Iran is effectively barred from building new housing in Syria because it is on the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The Islamic Republic has for several years touted its involvement in Syria as a worthwhile investment, saying it would enjoy many valuable re-construction contracts once the fighting their died down.
But now the head of the Association of Mass Housing Builders of Tehran says Iran’s place on the FATF blacklist has created problems even in Syria. Only Iran, Myanmar and North Korea are on the FATF blacklist, which means most banks won’t conduct any transactions with Iran.
Iraj Rahbar said Iran had talks with Syria for the construction of 20,000 housing units in Syria. But nothing happened. He said neither the Iranian mass housing builders nor the Syrians showed any interest.
Rahbar said one of the main problems blocking cooperation on developmental and construction projects in Syria was the issue of Syria’s required guarantees. He said the Syrians created hurdles because they were not interested in the presence of Iranians in their reconstruction effort.
He added that the other major problem was Iran’s blacklisting by FATF.
Rahbar said another problem was the transportation of construction materials. He said the transportation of construction materials was expensive for Iranian builders and they show no interest in projects in Syria.
Rahbar went on to say that Turkiyeh and Russia have entered reconstruction projects in Syria, with Turkiyeh initially strongly involved in Syria’s reconstruction projects. But after a while, Turkish interest just petered out, Rahbar said.
He said the Russians, due to their military power, have real dominance in the Syrian market and most port, energy and power plant projects in Syria are in hands of the Russians, though they are less interested in housing projects.
