The US called on the major buyers of Iranian oil to halt all oil purchases, of course, not all will follow this demand, but the fact that Iran’s oil exports will decline is beyond question. On the other hand, due to sanctions and pressure from the United States, large European companies are leaving Iran. Only a few days ago, the US president introduced a new package of sanctions that would hit the agonizing Iranian economy hard.

As a result of all these sanctions and restrictive measures, the flow of foreign currency to Iran is expected to decrease, and this will affect Iran’s ability to carry out its expansion in the region. However, it should not be forgotten that it is not the only source of large amounts of foreign currency for Iran.

One of the sources of stable currency inflow is the involvement in the international drug trade.

Currently, illegal drug trafficking is considered one of the most profitable activities. The wealth of monarchs pales in comparison with the money that heads of drug cartels earn.

Every year drug dealers come up with all the new methods of transportation and marketing of their goods. No one seems to be impressed by the use of submarines to transport and the Internet to sell drugs.

Now, imagine that the state is involved in drug trafficking, either directly or through a proxy structure. Certainly, states have much more possibilities of hidden transportation, storing, marketing and subsequent hiding of evidence that the drug cartels have.

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August 16, 2018, “Al Arabiya”