Dubai: Traders along Dubai Creek are cautiously optimistic that the long hoped for agreement reached between Iran and world powers on Tuesday will be a major boost for business.

“I’m 100 per cent sure it will be very good for business,” Abdul Raza, an Iranian spice trader at the Dubai Spice Market that is situated along the creek, told Gulf News yesterday.

World powers, led by the United States, agreed in Vienna, Austria to lift sanctions against Iran in exchange for a reduction in the country’s nuclear capabilities.

The removal of sanctions against the Islamic republic will open the country’s market, seen by many as untapped for the past 25 years, to the international community, paving the way for greater business prospects for Dubai’s traders.

The traders working along the Dubai Creek and adjacent souqs — or markets — are part of a centuries old trade between the emirates and Iran that has survived the years of sanctions.

Those working in the Spice Souq are confident that the lifting of sanctions will allow the traders to bring in more spices from Iran and allow them to sell more goods to the country as its economy improves.

“It will be good. We can bring in more spices and Iranians will be able to buy more [when their currency strengthens],” Abbas Nagm, another Iranian spice trader told Gulf News.

From 2010, Iran’s rial fell by as much as 80 per cent against the US dollar and later in 2013 the Iranian government officially devalued the currency by half. A weak rial against the US dollar is bad for traders in Dubai because the UAE dirham is pegged to the US dollar.

Mohsen, an Iranian selling Indian and Chinese kitchenware to the Iranian market, told Gulf News he was confident business will improve.

“Business will get better and more Iranian tourists will visit Dubai,” he said.

Trading partner

However, he added that, “It will not happen now.”

“It will take a couple of months [until things change],” he said.

Iran has remained one of the UAE’s major trading partners despite the sanctions. Last year, UAE non-oil export trade with Iran was valued at $11.5 billion (Dh42.2 billion), making Iran the UAE’s largest non-oil export trade market, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). But Iran’s total contribution to the UAE’s non-oil export trade dropped from 16 per cent in 2011 to 11 per cent last year, Alp Eke, senior economist at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), told Gulf News by email on Tuesday.

“We expect this ratio to significantly increase by [the] end of 2016,” he said following Tuesday’s announcement.

The removal of sanctions against Iran is part of a series of steps led by the United States to welcome Iran back into the international community. However, many are still cautious about speaking on Iran.

A number of traders declined to comment over perceived political sensitivities surrounding Iran, while others asked that there names not be printed.

One Iranian trader who wished to remain anonymous said that they were “still not sure” what will change once sanctions are removed.

“It only happened yesterday … Inshallah [God willing], things will get better,” they said.

Henry Smith, associate director at Control Risks, a political risk consultancy, said in a statement on Tuesday that “the impact of sanctions relief on business is likely to be delayed.”

But Salman Shaik, who sells Indian and Chinese air conditioners to Iran, said business could easily increase from three monthly shipments to 12 if he was allowed to sell European and American made electronics to the country.