Iran exported $13mn worth of Persian rugs during the initial four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20 – July 21), according to the head of the National Carpet Industries Centre, Mohammadreza Zare, semi-official YJC reported on August 14.

The much-loved and well-known handwoven rug industry has been on a downward trajectory for several years, mainly due to sanctions, a change in foreign currency rules at home and cheaper imitations from other countries, including China.

A Tehran Chamber of Commerce report revealed that Iran's global market share for handwoven carpets dropped from 25% in 2011 to 7% in 2022. However, the latest four-month period broke this trend, with an increase in exports after years of decline.

One of the industry's ongoing challenges has been the ban on exporting handwoven carpets by postal services, which has been in effect since March 2022-23, indirectly hitting online sales abroad.

Zare mentioned that the centre corresponded with the Trade Promotion Organisation (TPO) of Iran to resolve this issue and restore the ability to export carpets by mail.

Iran exported $50mn worth of handmade carpets in the last Persian calendar year (March 2023-24), according to Abdullah Bahrami, the CEO of the Union of Handmade Carpet Cooperatives.

Zare added that Iran produced 1.35mn square metres of handwoven carpet during the first four months of current Iranian year, showing a 6% year-on-year increase.

Iran’s production has been on a steady rise. The country produced 3.3mn square metres of handmade carpet in March 2021-22, 3.5mn square metres in March 2022-23, and 3.9mn square metres in March 2023-24 (up 11%).

In 2017, nearly $100mn worth of Persian carpets were exported to the US after international sanctions tied to the nuclear agreement were lifted. People associated with the Iranian carpet industry felt things would improve in the coming time. But hopes were dashed when, on May 8, 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

The act by the US was seen as a cynical move by many in Iran, for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had little to do with the small profits made in the Persian carpet industry which was sold through traditional bazaars in Tehran, Mashhad and Tabriz. 

Following the sanctioning, in 2018, Iran took the US ban on the sale of rugs to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), IRNA reported at the time. 

Rug sales in the US were banned by the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s, but following the nuclear deal signed in late 2015 by Iran and six world powers including the US the sanction was rescinded.

“Handmade carpets belong to the Iranian nation, and the US President Donald Trump has made a mistake to sanctioning this Iranian art, which is a symbol of the culture and intellectual property of the Iranian people”, Fereshteh Dastpak, director of the National Carpet Centre of Iran said in April 2018.