At the four-day trade fair, which concluded on October 9, at the Tehran International Industry Fair, leaders boasted that 25 countries were taking part. International sanctions did not stop them from continuing to do business with rest of the world. China stood out by having the highest turnout by far of all companies, which made up 81 out of 309 firms present.

Beijing according to trade specialist can easily circumvent and ignore banking complications faced by other countries when doing business with the Islamic Republic and can supply versions of anything imported from western countries. They conducted nearly $22 billion with the nation in 2009.

They are helping build roads in Iran and help Iranian companies copy western-made machines to take over for the countries withdrawing from the country’s oil and gas fields like the French, British and Japanese countries. “They even manufacture prayer beads for remembering God in our prayers,” Said Ali Azhabi, an oil engineer in the Persian Gulf.

At the fair, business representatives from Turkey, Romania, India, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Sweden shook hands, swapped cards, hoping the future transactions would not catch the eye of the American regulators and bar them from benefiting from Iran’s Military industry, nuclear program and portions of its energy sector. The tight United Nation sanctions, the U. N Security Council ban on its military and nuclear program and the U.S., European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan restriction on the energy sector did not have a noticeable effect on Iran’s economy.

John W. Garver, a professor at the Georgia Institute of technology in Atlanta said that Chinese support of Iran of 75 million was more than a political move and its development was still export driven and the Islamic nation was a big market. He added that the western sactions were creating major opportunities for Chinese firms.

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