Source: Middle East Studies, No.1, 2026

Abstract: In recent years, unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and the West world have shown trends of extremization of measures, extensification of affected parties, and weakening legitimacy, especially the abuse of secondary sanctions on the third parties cooperating with the sanctioned countries, which has promoted the rise of international cooperation in circumventing economic sanctions. The operation mechanism of international cooperation on circumvention of economic sanctions is mainly characterized by surrounding trade and agent operation of “intermediate countries”, and economic cooperation among sanctioned countries is regarded as an important supplement. In recent years, Iran, which has been subjected to sanctions for a long time, has faced the dilemma of “maximum pressure” from the US, but it has still been able to expand alternative market cooperation paths with trade of neighboring countries as the inner layer and agents of “intermediate countries” as the medium, and has strengthened economic relations with other sanctioned countries. However, Iran's cooperation in evading economic sanctions also reflects many limitations, such as the inability to achieve high-quality import substitution, the difficulty of building financial alternative mechanisms, the risk of logistics cooperation in evading sanctions, and the vulnerability to political game changes,  etc. In the context of the intensifying Sino-US rivalry, Iran's cooperation practice in circumventing economic sanctions is of certain enlightening significance.

Keywords: Iran; Economic Sanctions; Circumvention of Economic Sanctions