Iran stops importing US-made cars

Iran has stopped placing orders to import US-made cars after criticism from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, news agencies in the Islamic Republic report on Tuesday.

The industry, mining and trade ministry had previously allowed 24 models manufactured by the General Motors-owned Chevrolet to be brought in via a third country.

“Import order placement for American Chevrolet cars has been disabled since Sunday” on the government’s online imports website, Farhad Ehteshamzadeh, head of the Association of Auto Importers, tells the Fars news agency.

“After Chevrolet order placements were removed from the system, no orders will be allowed for (Chevrolet) cars,” he says, without giving figures for the number of vehicles imported previously.

The order to halt the imports came from Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, following a call by Khamenei last week, the Mehr news agency says.

“Americans themselves don’t use US-made cars,” Khamenei said on Wednesday during a speech related to Labor Day on the importance of domestic production.

“We have seen this reflected in American media. They argue that fuel consumption is high and the cars are heavy.”

If this is the case, why import vehicles from America, Khamenei asked.

— AFP