Iran was caught up in a major embarrassment this week after Saud Khansari, president of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, revealed data on oil exports to China. According to him, during 2018 before the sanctions were restructured, the value of exports reached about $9.5 billion, but in the first seven months of the current year, the figure reached only $11 million.
The Iranian regime media and its spokespersons has cried out as this figure highlights the catastrophic decline in the country’s oil exports. A news agency close to the Revolutionary Guards was quick to make clear that the figure provided by Khansari was "misleading." It also attacked the reformist camp that "celebrated" the low figure.
Majid Rada Hariri the head of the Iranian-Chinese Joint Chamber of Commerce came out to publicly declare that Iran's oil sales figures are "top secret". He explained that their revelation was a "military secret" and claimed that it was helping Iran's opponents prevent it from circumventing the sanctions.