A Swiss pharmaceutical company has completed the first transaction under a new humanitarian trade channel with Iran, according to the government in Bern.
The Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA) channel to bring food and medicine to Iran started trial operations in January, helping supply Swiss goods to the struggling population without tripping over US sanctions, Reuters said.
“A number of companies have already been approved, more companies will follow,” Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said on Monday. “Further transactions should be carried out shortly.”
Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from the sanctions that Washington reimposed on Tehran after President Donald Trump walked away from a 2015 international deal over Iran's nuclear program.