# Is it legal to import dried fruit from Iran? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785 "2017-02-25T23:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/1 "2017-02-25T23:47:00Z")
My wife and I shop at a “Persian” Market here in Southern California. They sell bulk Black Dried Apricots. They are sun dried as opposed to being dried with sulfur dioxide, rather ugly, but delicious. They also sell boxes of dates that are clearly marked “Product of Iran”. Today I asked the guy if the apricots were from Turkey, he said, "No, they are from “Persia”. (“Persia” is a code word for Iran.) I said, “Iran?” and he replied, “Yes”. I’m certainly not going to “tell” anyone, but isn’t there some kind of restriction on goods from Iran coming into the USA? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/2 "2017-02-26T00:03:14Z")
AFAIK, no restrictions, Iranians just like to call themselves Persians. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/3 "2017-02-26T00:30:19Z")
In my experience, the people who call it Persia tend to be political refugees, Baha’i, or otherwise have little love for the current Iranian regime. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/4 "2017-02-26T02:35:19Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > In my experience, the people who call it Persia tend to be political refugees, Baha’i, or otherwise have little love for the current Iranian regime. My experience is that the Iranian diaspora who have no love for their country date back to the hated despotic police state of the Shah, the US-sponsored predecessor of the current Iranian governmental configuration. But they began calling themselves Persians during the Iran hostage crisis, when open hatred for all Iranians was manifest in the USA… It still is, so the practice continued to include those who left Iran after the 1979 revolution that deposed the Shah, which is a completely different set or political refugees from those who escaped from the Shah. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/5 "2017-02-26T02:47:54Z")
The US has trade sanctions against Iran. [Ebay](http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/embargo.html) and [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_rel_topic?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201575780) do not allow the sale of any Iranian goods for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/6 "2017-02-26T15:19:05Z")
I wish! Iranian mulberries are ambrosial. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/7 "2017-02-26T15:36:57Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > My wife and I shop at a “Persian” Market here in Southern California. > > They sell bulk Black Dried Apricots. They are sun dried as opposed to being dried with sulfur dioxide, rather ugly, but delicious. They also sell boxes of dates that are clearly marked “Product of Iran”. > > Today I asked the guy if the apricots were from Turkey, he said, "No, they are from “Persia”. (“Persia” is a code word for Iran.) I said, “Iran?” and he replied, “Yes”. > > I’m certainly not going to “tell” anyone, but isn’t there some kind of restriction on goods from Iran coming into the USA? Why the quotes around Persia and Persian? They are perfectly legitimate descriptive words. Iran used to be Persia, just as Thailand used to be Siam and once upon a time France was called Gaul. Persia is not a code word for Iran, it’s the old word for that country. There’s probably some allowance to export/import a limited amount of Iranian/Persia goods, and it’s not unusual to find that sort of exemption in the food and beverage sector for a nation we otherwise don’t do business with. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/8 "2017-02-26T16:06:59Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Why the quotes around Persia and Persian? They are perfectly legitimate descriptive words. Iran used to be Persia, just as Thailand used to be Siam and once upon a time France was called Gaul. Persia is not a code word for Iran, it’s the old word for that country. > . Incorrect. [It has always been Iran or some](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Iran) variant. “Persia” comes from the Greek name for the Achaemenid Empire, after the homeland of its founder; Parsa, now [Fars province in](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fars_Province)Iran. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/9 "2017-02-26T17:23:03Z")
Correct, the term used by the people living in that nation is and has been “Iran”. However, _in English_ the term “Persia” (as you noted, derived originally from Greek sources) has been terminology in the past, and to some extent in the present. Will you now insist that English speakers call Germany “Deutschland”? We could, if we collectively decided to change how we do things, but even if the Anglosphere decided to use the German word Deutschland the old word Germany wouldn’t be a “code word” for Germans, excuse me, Deutschlanders or whatever the appropriate German word is, it would simply be the older English term for the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Last\_Glacial\_Maximum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Last\_Glacial\_Maximum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Last_Glacial_Maximum)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/10 "2017-02-26T19:43:38Z")
Long ago, I had the wonderful experience of eating some Persian roasted pistachios. They were nearly as large as my thumb {o.k. I exaggerate, but only a little} freshly roasted and had a hint of a citrus coating on the shell. They were by far the best I’ve ever had ! . ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/11 "2017-02-26T23:31:46Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > In my experience, the people who call it Persia tend to be political refugees, Baha’i, or otherwise have little love for the current Iranian regime. My understanding is that Persians are the most numerous ethnic group in Iran, and Persian (Farsi) is official/dominant language in Iran. There are lots of people in and from Iran who don’t call themselves Persian. Kurds are probably the best known non-Persian Iranian ethnic group, but there are many tribal groups who have traditionally made their homes in Iran. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/12 "2017-02-27T13:36:37Z")
The Iran/Persia dichotomy is really quite simple, quickly cutting through any historical diatribes. People in the USA who have or had Iranian nationality have chosen to identity themselves as Persian for one of two reasons. 1) so as not to give legitimacy to recent governments of Iran, or 2) to give the appearance to other Americans of not endorsing the legitimacy of said governments. Not unlike Mexicans calling themselves Hispanics, to avoid the stigma in America of being thought of as Mexican. The necessity to do so is on the Americans who judge them, not the Mexicans or the Iranians. It doesn’t help when the president publicaly calls them the Axis of Evil. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/13 "2017-02-27T13:49:40Z")
Wow, talk about a hijack, that never got back on track despite **boffking** ’s failed attempt to get it back on. Yes, certain goods can be imported into the US from Iran, including foodstuff. This permission came into effect on January 21, 2016. [https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a\_id/35/~/importing-goods-of-iranian-origin](https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/35/~/importing-goods-of-iranian-origin) > [@](#): > > Effective January 21, 2016, per amendments to the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, the commercial importation into the United States of the following Iranian-origin items is authorized: > > (1) Foodstuffs intended for human consumption that are classified under Chapters 2-23 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/14 "2017-02-27T14:22:38Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Wow, talk about a hijack, that never got back on track despite **boffking** ’s failed attempt to get it back on. > > Yes, certain goods can be imported into the US from Iran, including foodstuff. This permission came into effect on January 21, 2016. > > [https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a\_id/35/~/importing-goods-of-iranian-origin](https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/35/~/importing-goods-of-iranian-origin) Kudos on tracking this down – to my recollection, certain types of food (like pistachios) and hand-made rugs had been exempted from the sanctions for quite some time, but I had no clue how to track that down. As I understood it, sanctions on those items were judged to disproportionately affect the poor in Iran with little impact to the bigwigs or large business concerns. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/15 "2017-02-27T21:01:12Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Wow, talk about a hijack, that never got back on track despite **boffking** ’s failed attempt to get it back on. > > Yes, certain goods can be imported into the US from Iran, including foodstuff. This permission came into effect on January 21, 2016. > > [https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a\_id/35/~/importing-goods-of-iranian-origin](https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/35/~/importing-goods-of-iranian-origin) Thanks Omar. Looks like Dries Apricots come in to the US from Iran with a 4.4¢/kg Tariff according to your source. (Yes, that was some hijacking. Last time I looked my original post had landed in Havana!) ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-import-dried-fruit-from-iran/780785/16 "2017-02-27T21:55:25Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > As I understood it, sanctions on those items were judged to disproportionately affect the poor in Iran with little impact to the bigwigs or large business concerns. Of course. Processing dried fruit is hard low-wage labor, which is done by honest diligent men and women to support their modest families. And the purpose of the sanctions is “to send the right message”.