‘We couldn’t reach them’: Chinese firms’ Iran business in limbo after strikes | South China Morning Post

VirtualRichDream · 2026-03-06T01:24:31+00:00

Rising tensions in the Middle East, particularly from U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, are disrupting trade for Chinese exporters. Shipments are stalled, payments delayed, and communication with Iranian clients has ceased, jeopardizing contracts and growth plans.

VirtualRichDream

2026-03-06 01:24:31

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Rising tensions in the Middle East following attacks on Iran are having an impact on the trade corridors and investment plans of Chinese exporters and investors, who had seen Iran and the broader region as crucial growth markets.

Joint strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel since Saturday have left shipments stalled, payments delayed and clients unreachable, Chinese businesspeople said. For many of them, the disruption has been direct and immediate.

David Xie, an executive at a Shenzhen-based technology company that secured a contract worth more than 5 million yuan (US$728,785) from an Iranian trade delegation in late January, said he had lost contact with his client.

“We couldn’t reach them,” Xie said. “Messages are not answered. We don’t know whether the project is postponed or cancelled.”

He said the Iranian group had toured factories in Shenzhen with a view to procuring goods.

“They paid a deposit and we had already begun preparing production,” Xie said.

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