On Turkey’s busy border with Iran, in a shed filled with boxes of cooking oil, a shopkeeper read aloud to his coworkers the latest news on his phone: peace talks between the United States and Iran postponed.
For these traders, the vicissitudes of war and the economic crisis in Iran have brought an unexpected boon to their business. As prices for basic commodities have risen in Iran, they can sell olive, sunflower and corn oil for a modest profit to Iranians over the border, who will either sell the oil inside their country or use it themselves.
Dozens of people were seen carrying multiple four- and five-liter bottles of oil walking on foot from Turkey toward Iran during a single morning and afternoon. In interviews, shopkeepers said demand for cooking oil had increased in recent times.
“We have only recently started doing this,” said Maryam, an Iranian woman who bought four bottles of cooking oil with her husband on Wednesday, intending to sell them back home. “Cooking oil is better than cigarettes that couples usually buy and sell across the border because it brings in higher profits,” he said.
Maryam said she could buy a five-liter bottle in Turkey for a little more than $10 and sell it inside Iran at cheaper rates than the going rate in shops there, making a small profit of about $2. Like most Iranians interviewed at the border, he declined to give his full name, fearing retribution from the Iranian government.
Other Iranians interviewed did not want to reveal their identities at all. Oil sellers in Türkiye, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said they wanted trading to remain prudent so that Turkish authorities would not end it.
The Kapikoy land crossing near the city of Van in eastern Türkiye provided one of the few durable contacts between Iranians and the outside world during the war. The country’s airspace has been closed for much of the past two months, though it has reopened in recent days, and citizens are left in the dark due to frequent government-imposed internet shutdowns.
The sharp rise in cooking oil trade is a strong sign of the growing inflation crisis that has weighed on Iranian families for years, and which has become particularly acute in recent months. inflation rate in iran Estimate The figure for this year is about 70 percent, which would be the highest rate calculated by the IMF for the country since at least 1980.
Iranians crossing the border last week complained about high food prices in the country minimum wage This equates to approximately $108 per month. Iran is also facing massive layoffs as a result of war disruptions and internet shutdowns.
The high prices are a challenge for a government that has faced several rounds of protests in recent years driven by economic discontent, and which must now rebuild an economy whose major industrial centers have been destroyed in air strikes.
Authorities suppressed the latest round of protests in January with a deadly crackdown. Since then, the government has killed protesters and intimidated Iranians into staying in their homes.
The price of cooking oil in Iran rose in January after the government removed subsidies on imports of some essential goods, a policy aimed at cutting state spending amid sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sales.
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said the subsidy program had been taken advantage of by some sectors without reducing prices. And after the policy change, Iranians said in interviews that they were having trouble finding cooking oil in stores.
To ameliorate those price increases, the government gave direct monthly cash payments to Iranians, amounting to 10 million Iranian rials, or about $7. Experts said this was unlikely to ease the pressure felt by most Iranians.
Milad, 37, of Khoy, who bought cooking oil with his wife on his way back to Iran, acknowledged that prices have increased as a result of the subsidy reform, but said it has been effective in limiting corrupt “mafias” who took advantage of the situation to make profits.
“Since prices have gone up, we are buying this oil to take back with us,” he said.
Any relief provided by cross-border trade is minimal compared to the pressures faced by Iranians.
Bibijan, a 71-year-old Tehran resident, said he recently bought three small chickens for about 22 million riyals — about $14 at current rates. She said she was able to buy five or six hens for about five million riyals.
A married couple working as textile manufacturers said that, even before the war, they were out of work for at least half the year. He said if Iranians continue to face such bleak prospects, he expects many will turn to stealing food to feed their families.
Kiana Hayeri Contributed to the reporting.
