Earlier this month, Baghdad more than quintupled the fee charged Iranian truckers crossing into Iraq. But Iran now says it has convinced Iraq to rescind the new fees.
Earlier this month, Iraqi customs officials overnight jacked up the transit fee more than five times, from 7.1 million rials ($210 at the free market rate) to 36.7 million rials ($1,100). There was no explanation.
However, Khalil Heydari, the chief of Iranian customs at the Mehran border post, said he had been told the Iraqi parliament had rejected the fee increase and the Iraqi government would announce a return to previous fees soon. No such announcement was made by Iraq, however.
Then, on May 24, the governor general of Ilam province, Mohammad-Reza Morvarid, announced that Iraqi customs officers at the border had stopped charging the new fees and reverted to the old ones.
Iraq is Iran’s second biggest export market for non-oil goods after China, so the huge transit fee increase threatened Iranian sales.
News reports said First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri was in charge of dealing with Iraq to resolve the issue.