The government of Donald Trump wants the world to stop trading with Iran. The U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, announced this Monday a “sustained financial attack” against the Islamic Republic and warned countries and foreign companies that if they maintain their economic ties with Tehran, they will be exposed to harsh sanctions. Washington has been multiplying economic threats and warnings to countries around the world for various reasons for months, many of which end without consequences. This time, in the case of Spain, the warning broadcast from the White House comes over a diminished trade relationship, which has little to do with the one that existed just a few years ago.
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The exchange of goods between Spain and Iran has been reduced to almost negligible levels. In 2025, according to the Ministry of Economy statistics, Spanish companies exported products worth 123.1 million euros to Iran and purchased Iranian goods worth another 121.8 million. In total, almost 245 million euros. In the first half of 2026, exports totaled 30.7 million and imports 47.5 million. Just seven years ago, the link between the two countries was considerably greater, with an amount exceeding 2.5 billion euros.
The latest data, still provisional, show what remains of that old trade relationship. Most of Spain’s imports during 2025 were concentrated in the food and beverage category, with about 75 million euros. Of that amount, around 53 million came exclusively from saffron, while another 19 million came from nuts, raisins, and fruits. Outside the food sector, the main purchases were related to chemicals, about 18.7 million, and plastics, another 9.5 million. Glass and cast materials such as iron and steel also had some weight.
In the opposite direction, Spanish exports were led by machinery and mechanical appliances, with 26.5 million euros. Within this category, “faucet and organ articles” stand out. Another 26 million were pharmaceutical products. To a lesser extent, 11.4 million euros corresponded to fertilizers and 10.7 million to paper and cardboard. The rest of the categories, such as essential oils and other chemical and organic products, each represented less than 10 million.
All these figures contrast with the levels reached before the imposition of U.S. sanctions during the first term of the current White House occupant. The peak of the most recent series ―in 2011, for example, goods worth 4 billion were imported― occurred in 2018, when Spain bought 2.046 billion from the Persian country, mainly crude oils and petroleum derivatives, and exported another 584 million. Just one year later, imports plummeted to 92.4 million and exports stood at 206 million. Bilateral trade was reduced to 298.5 million, an annual drop of approximately 89%. Currently, the difference with 2018 is slightly over 90%.
The explanation for that collapse lies mainly in oil and other energy products. The change coincides with the United States’ withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018 and the reinstatement of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic. The measures ended up also affecting companies from third countries that maintained business with Tehran and contributed to cutting one of the main trade channels between Spain and Iran. Since then, economic relations have not disappeared but have been reduced to a much smaller scale.
The new threat launched this Monday by Washington, which still needs to be specified, aims to reach any country that maintains economic relations with Iran. Curiously, not even the United States would be exempt, as it has not managed to bring its trade balance with the Islamic Republic to zero. In 2025, according to official data, U.S. companies exported goods worth 58.7 million dollars to Iran, while imports amounted to 1.4 million. In the first six months of 2026, already with the war between the two countries underway after Washington and Tel Aviv’s illegal attacks against Tehran, U.S. sales totaled 21.2 million dollars and purchases another 0.8 million.
Spanish companies also reduce their exposure
The United States has been closely monitoring companies’ relations with Iran for decades. Washington’s pressures, often exerted through its embassy in Madrid, achieved that entities such as Santander, Sabadell, or BBVA closed their offices in Iran or that companies like Repsol or Unión Fenosa (later integrated into what is now Naturgy) abandoned projects in the country. Telstar, a Spanish firm, was even sanctioned for its exports to Iran, although the fine was later withdrawn.
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Section 13(r) of the U.S. Exchange Act requires companies listed in the United States to report their relations with the Persian country. It demands that an issuer disclose if it or any of its subsidiaries knowingly participated in certain activities, transactions, or dealings related to Iran, including those that were not, at least until now, prohibited by U.S. law. Spanish companies listed in the United States have been complying with this obligation.
Grifols bought the German Biotest AG in 2022, which has supply agreements with five different Iranian entities, under which the Iranian entities send plasma collected in Iran to Biotest AG for processing and Biotest sends those pharmaceutical products to the Iranian entities. In February 2023, Grifols submitted a request for interpretative guidance or, failing that, a license authorization to U.S. authorities. The company argued that the Iran Transactions and Sanctions Regulations should not apply in this case, but if the authorities believed they should, they should authorize an exception for humanitarian reasons. The company warns that the authorities might disagree: “In such case, we would have to cease Biotest AG’s activities in Iran and could be subject to sanctions. The cessation of Biotest AG’s activities in Iran would not have a material adverse effect on our operations or financial condition,” it explains in its annual report.
Ferrovial (now domiciled in the Netherlands) also reports marginal activity linked to Iran, through its subsidiary YDA Turkey, which manages the terminals of Dalaman airport on behalf of the Turkish government and has no authority to deny entry into Turkey to passengers or aircraft authorized under Turkish law. YDA Turkey received about 50,000 euros in fees for services related to passengers and aircraft of Meraj Airlines, an airline based in Tehran sanctioned by U.S. authorities.
Banks, meanwhile, have been cutting all their ties with Iran. Santander keeps a limited number of accounts blocked in compliance with U.S. sanctions. In addition, it has certain inherited compliance guarantees for the benefit of an Iranian bank currently sanctioned by the United States (letters of credit to guarantee the obligations of contractors who participated in public tenders in Iran) that were in effect before April 27, 2007. The bank is not contractually authorized to cancel the agreements in force without paying the guaranteed amount. Therefore, it stated its intention to continue providing guarantees according to applicable law.
BBVA, for its part, assures in its latest annual report filed with the SEC that, according to the information it has, “neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries have knowingly engaged in any activity, transaction, or operation during the period covered by this Annual Report that must be disclosed under Section 13(r) of the Exchange Act.”
Telefónica no longer trades in the United States, but in its 2024 annual report to the U.S. regulator it noted that several of the group’s subsidiaries maintain roaming agreements with Iranian telecommunications companies. Under these agreements, customers of Telefónica group companies can use the Iranian network in question (outgoing roaming) and customers of these Iranian operators can use the network of Telefónica’s subsidiaries (incoming roaming). The amount of these transactions is absolutely marginal, on the order of half a million euros.
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