Completion of 'Tea for Oil' Barter; Sri Lanka Claims to Have Settled $250 Million Debt to Iran with Tea

Sri Lankan officials state that they have successfully paid off their $250 million debt to Iran for oil purchases made in 2012 in four installments under the 'Tea for Oil' agreement. The Sri Lankan newspaper 'Daily Financial Times' reported on Friday, March 16, that according to a 2021 agreement with the Islamic Republic, Ceylon Oil Company was required to export $5 million worth of tea to Iran monthly to gradually settle its $250 million debt, but the Sri Lankan government recently increased these installments to $10 million per month to expedite the repayment. Kanchana Wijesekera, Sri Lanka's Minister of Power and Energy, stated: 'This initiative directly supported our tea industry, as we exported tea to Iran in exchange for the oil received instead of making cash payments to boost our industry and farmers.' The Islamic Republic agreed to accept tea instead of its $250 million claim from Sri Lanka, even as a scandal involving the allocation of $3.37 billion in 'preferential currency' to the owners of the Debesh tea company shocked Iranian media and society in December 2023. This embezzlement was described by Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, as 'one of the largest embezzlements, most of which occurred during the thirteenth government,' and Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, head of the judiciary, responded to demanding students about this major corruption by saying: 'In our demands, let’s not do anything that the enemy can benefit from.' The aftershocks of the billion-dollar Debesh corruption; the Ministry of Agriculture promised to limit tea imports. The continuation of 'barter economic management' in Iran; the development of Imam Airport was handed over to the Chinese in exchange for oil. Iraqi officials insist on implementing 'barter' with Iran; this is not contrary to U.S. sanctions. The president of the Football Federation revealed a method; the government paid for electricity exports to Iraq in rials to power plants. Expansion of unconventional trade; the 'barter' locomotive has reached Pakistan. The continuation of the barter policy in the Islamic Republic; from tea and rice to medicine and wool. The Iranian ambassador in Sri Lanka stated that receiving tea instead of debt is not 'barter,' but 'understanding.' Oil for goods; Sri Lanka is repaying its $251 million debt to Iran with tea shipments.