Chinese merchants in Iran: "Money has turned into paper" and "Many orders have been lost"

Ask AI · Why Do Chinese Merchants Choose to Stay Put in Iran Amid War?

Reporter Wang Hui

At 10:12 a.m. on February 28, inside an office in Tehran, Nánwěi was getting ready to head out to collect payments when an employee’s一句, “The war has begun,” shattered the usual work rhythm.

“I didn’t pay much attention at first. I thought it was just a small-scale explosion. A minute later, when I called my Iranian client, he told me that because the United States, Israel, and Iran had broken out in a military conflict, bombs had fallen near the office and everyone had been evacuated in an emergency. Only then did I realize how serious the situation was,” Nánwěi recalled.

This was the second time Nánwěi had experienced war in Iran. The previous time was in 2025, when Israel carried out airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The two sides then broke out the “12-day War.” Due to excessive fear when he first faced fighting firsthand, he rushed back home just five days after the war broke out. He said, “After I returned home, whenever I heard explosions outside or fireworks, my heart would ‘skip a beat.’”

But this time, Nánwěi chose to stay.

At the beginning of the war, a nationwide internet blackout became his biggest problem. “Due to the airstrikes, mobile communications were down in most areas of Tehran. I had just sent the message to a Chinese company saying the war had started, but before the second message could go out, the internet went down. After that, there were long periods of internet outages without any regularity, directly cutting off my communication with my Iranian clients and my headquarters back in China. In addition, the cross-bank settlement system was often shut down as well, making transfers difficult and preventing many clients from being able to pay deposits. Work that used to take me one day to handle now often takes three to four days,” Nánwěi said.

On March 7, Nánwěi took a taxi from Tehran, crossing nearly 800 kilometers, to Jolefa, a town near the border.

“Leaving Tehran wasn’t because I was afraid of the war. It was because there was no network there, so I couldn’t work,” Nánwěi said. For him, internet access was a “must-have” for handling cross-border business, while Jolefa could connect to both Iran’s network and that of neighboring Armenia.

Nánwěi is just a snapshot of a Chinese merchant in Iran who stayed put during wartime. In recent days, a reporter interviewed multiple Chinese people who remained in Iran. They are spread across different parts of Iran: some are keeping shops and inventory on Hormuz Island; some are in a factory in Rāfsanjān in the southeastern region, adjusting equipment and waiting for the port to reopen; and others are beside a mine in the northwest region of Tabriz, at a loss over the ore that has been out of operation for a month.

Although their identities differ and their circumstances vary, these Chinese merchants are not experiencing turmoil in Iran for the first time, and they are all waiting for peace to arrive amid the fighting.

“In an invisible way, many orders are gone”

The company where Nánwěi works mainly trades bulk commodities. Right now, only he remains in Iran. He said that the value of his goods in Iran exceeds 1 million yuan, and the total cost of the goods being shipped from China is about 5 million yuan. Because he cannot directly reach Iran from within China, only local numbers can communicate normally with clients. The moment he returns to China, all ongoing orders under discussion, shipments pending dispatch, and deposits already paid would stall due to the interruption in communication—so he has to stay there.

Some of his cargo is stored in a local warehouse in Iran, and the rest is shipped by sea from China to Abas Port on the north bank of the Strait of Hormuz, and must then be delivered by local drivers to clients. “Many local drivers are worried about safety risks. Either they outright refuse the orders, or they temporarily raise the freight rate, which significantly increases the cost of getting the goods from the warehouse or Abas Port into clients’ hands,” Nánwěi said.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s busiest oil transport corridors and also the “storm eye” of the current situation in the Middle East.

After Nánwěi said that following the February 28 attack on Iran, Iran announced that it would ban vessels from passing through the strait, international oil prices surged. That, in turn, pushed up the prices of bulk commodities exported from China: they rose 10% to 20% in a single day. In addition, due to the tense situation, many Iranian clients temporarily postponed paying deposits. The war also caused many factories in Iran to shut down and disrupted supply chains, meaning clients who had already placed orders couldn’t receive goods on time. Iranian traders are accustomed to face-to-face negotiations, and the probability of deals being struck with offline communication is higher. Now that people cannot meet in person, they can only communicate by phone or postpone cooperation, so efficiency drops sharply, and he has therefore lost a large number of orders as well.

Nánwěi said that even with the fighting going on, he still insists on shipping by sea. Regarding the issue of passage through the strait, he is optimistic: “Our shipping route has to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. On March 12, our company’s cargo ship left China and is expected to pass through the strait in about 30 days.”

Nánwěi said that at present, the freight for a 40-foot container is about $3,100, and for a 20-foot container about $2,000. The prices are basically the same as during the Chinese Spring Festival period. However, not all foreign trade companies can ship smoothly. Most shipping companies have chosen to stop sailing due to their concerns about risk.

On March 25, local time, Iranian Foreign Minister Alraghzzi said in an interview with Iranian state media that for friendly countries of Iran—or for situations in which Iran decides to provide passage convenience for other reasons—the Strait of Hormuz is safe for passage. Ships from China, Russia, Pakistan, Iraq, India, Bangladesh, and others have safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Since the end of February when the Israel-U.S.-Iran war broke out, the world’s key energy transport route, the Strait of Hormuz, has been severely obstructed. Keppler, an industry data provider, shows that from March 1 to March 23, commercial vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz only 144 times, down 95% from before the conflict erupted on February 28.

Multiple Chinese merchants told the reporter that cargo already loaded onto ships was either forced to remain at ports outside the strait or rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope, leading to a significant extension of transport time. Even when attempting land-based transshipment, they faced problems such as high costs, low efficiency, and complicated customs clearance, greatly increasing operational pressure.

Iran’s currency depreciates sharply: “Money turns into paper”

A Chinese merchant named Yang Feng, who runs a clothing store on Hormuz Island, has chosen to stay on the island. “Right now, there are only seven Chinese people left on Hormuz Island. Even though shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is obstructed, Hormuz Island hasn’t been封锁, and people can enter and exit freely. In the rural areas of the island where I live, it’s relatively safe,” Yang Feng said.

Hormuz Island lies at the sea entrance from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and is adjacent to Abas Port in southern Iran. With its unique geological natural scenery and deep historical and cultural heritage sites, the island is favored by tourists from around the world.

In 2010, Yang Feng opened a clothing store on Hormuz Island. Due to the war, the store has been closed. Yang Feng said, “Nowadays, Hormuz Island has lost its popularity. When there’s a war, tourists don’t come. Most shops on the island are shut down. A batch of new goods worth more than 200,000 yuan had just arrived at my store, and together with inventory in the warehouse, the total value is more than 3B yuan. Since these goods can’t be transshipped, I can only stay on the island.”

This is the third time since 2025 that his store has been shut down. The first time was in June 2025, when it was forced to close due to the “12-day War.” The second time was in December 2025, when it closed due to local protests and riots.

Yang Feng said, “Money turns into paper. Business gets worse every year. From 2015 to now, under the dual impact of international sanctions and geopolitical conflicts, Iran’s official exchange rate has depreciated more than 40 times.”

When Yang Feng went to Iran to do business in 2010, Hormuz Island had endless visitors and his store was doing very well. In 2015, when the nuclear deal was reached, Iran’s economy entered a brief period of stability. At that time, according to the official exchange rate, 1 US dollar could be exchanged for about 32k rials. In April 2018, Iran set the official exchange rate at 1 US dollar to 42k rials. As of February 27, 1 US dollar could already be exchanged for 8B rials.

Currently, Iran implements a “multi-track exchange rate” system, including three types: the official exchange rate, the NIMA exchange rate (a comprehensive foreign exchange management system), and the market exchange rate (the black market). The market exchange rate is determined by supply and demand in the free market, and it is several times higher than the official exchange rate. It is mainly applicable to ordinary people. This means that the degree of currency depreciation ordinary people actually bear is far higher than what the official exchange rate data shows.

Currency depreciation has reshaped the business approach of some Chinese merchants operating in Iran. Starting in 2015, a Chinese trader named Lao Wang began selling daily necessities such as shoes, hats, and other items wholesale from China to Iran, but he suffered losses because the rial continued to depreciate dramatically. Lao Wang said, “We can hardly make any money selling things from China to Iran. Later, we did the opposite—we started selling Iran’s goods back to China.”

Today, his business mainly has two parts: first, exporting Iran’s ore and seafood to China; second, selling to local Iranian mines the chemicals needed for ore processing. All transactions are settled using US dollar pricing, in order to avoid the risk of depreciation of Iran’s currency.

To avoid the fighting, Lao Wang has moved from Tehran to Tabriz in northwest Iran. He said, “Since the war broke out, my trading business has completely come to a standstill. Payments stopped, transportation stopped, and the ports also got stuck.”

Lao Wang believes Iran’s ore business has great potential and made plans accordingly, but the sudden outbreak of the war disrupted everything. The ore that had originally been planned to be shipped to China was also delayed for a month.

March 21 to April 3, 2026 is the Iranian New Year (Nowruz) holiday. On March 25, before the holiday ended, he returned to work early, came to the border area to “hop on the internet” and waited for clients to remit payments.

“Thank you for staying in Iran and running your business during special times”

In Nánwěi’s view, life in Jolefa is relatively safe. But there is one thing that makes him both cry and laugh—so much so that he doesn’t dare go out casually.

He said, “In Jolefa, there are very few Asian faces. The moment I go out, I become the focus of everyone’s attention, like a ‘mobile check-in spot.’ Once I make eye contact with local people, they smile and flock over, and they even take the initiative to ask for photos.”

Regarding where to live, previously Nánwěi rented a house together with multiple Chinese people and local residents in the village. The two sides agreed on a monthly rent of 1,500 yuan. Later, the landlord temporarily raised the rent to 380 yuan per day, citing multiple reasons such as “the cooking fumes are too heavy” and “Chinese people are too noisy and affect rest.” Nánwěi said, “This high price only applies to Chinese tenants. Iranian people can enjoy a half-price discount.”

Later, because they were unhappy with the unfair treatment, the Chinese living there collectively moved out.

On March 14, Nánwěi moved into a hotel run by Iranians. At that time, it was during the Iranian New Year period. The room rate was 133 yuan per day, about 50 yuan higher per day than usual, but it was still much more cost-effective than staying in the village. The hotel owner is Iranian. He has done business with Chinese people for years and sometimes also comes to China to buy small goods. He is very friendly toward Chinese people.

Nánwěi said, “The hotel has everything you need—kitchen pots and pans, bowls and plates—everything is provided. The hotel looks at us as Chinese and gives us all brand-new items; we don’t have to buy anything ourselves again. Each room is an independent standalone unit, with a small courtyard, and there’s also a barbecue grill in the courtyard.”

Lao Wang, who runs the ore business, said, “On the road there are many checkpoints, but when they see we hand over Chinese passports, they treat us very politely. Sometimes they even say, ‘Thank you for staying in Iran and running your business during special times.’”

Under the turmoil of war, even New Year’s has taken on a few special meanings. Lin Kai, a Chinese merchant who mainly handles pistachios, said this is Iran’s most special New Year in recent years. Under the shadow of fighting, the holiday feels entirely different from previous years.

Lin Kai’s Rāfsanjān is about 1,000 kilometers from Tehran. After the war broke out, he led multiple employees to move from Tehran to this place. Because export business was completely paused and the air cargo import route was cut off, Lin Kai shifted his focus to internal development—pushing full steam ahead with the installation of new equipment, commissioning production lines, improving the management system, and applying for international certifications.

Due to the situation, local network conditions are extremely poor. Lin Kai mentioned network problems multiple times in interviews: “My VPN has been down for half a day,” “I set up a new VPN, and it’s temporarily better,” “The phone network speed isn’t good; I can’t answer your interview questions in writing,” “Most Iranians are completely cut off from the internet overseas.”

He said that on March 21, New Year’s Day, the airport and military barracks outside Rāfsanjān were bombed. Fortunately, it did not cause any substantive impact on the city area. But the sense of tension still lingers in people’s minds. Everyone keeps a close watch on news developments. The moment they hear the sound of airplanes, they feel uneasy.

Lin Kai said that even so, the local New Year atmosphere remains strong, and Iranian people still strictly follow traditional customs: preparing fresh fish, wearing new clothes, visiting relatives and friends, handing out red envelopes, placing seven display pieces that start with “S” in the home, and getting together to celebrate the holiday. Compared with previous years, this year people have proactively reduced long-distance visits to relatives and friends, and the scope of holiday activities has narrowed somewhat.

Lin Kai said, “In Iranian people’s mindset, death isn’t something to be feared. They always love life and aren’t afraid of death.”

(At the interviewees’ request, the names Nánwěi and Lin Kai in the article are pseudonyms.)