1st Australian business delegation in 14 years to visit Iran

Australia's last business delegation to Iran was in 2002

Australia's trade minister will lead the country's first business delegation to visit Iran in 14 years after sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program were eased.

Steven Ciobo said he will leave tomorrow for the visit that will include reopening an Australian trade office that closed in 2010.

Ciobo said he will be accompanied by 20 representatives of Australian companies, with expertise in health, water management, agribusiness, mining, education and training.

Two-way trade between Australia and Iran fluctuated between 350 million Australian dollars and 600 million Australian dollars a year while Australian sanctions were in place, he said.

"With the sanctions easing, there is ... Significant potential for that figure to move north of there," Ciobo told Australian Broadcasting Corporation today.

"There are still challenges," he said, citing Iran's difficulty in fully reconnecting to the international financial system.

Australia eased sanctions in January after Iran implemented its nuclear pact.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action outlined what Tehran had to do to pull back its nuclear program from the brink of weapons-making capacity. And it spelled out the West's obligations to end many financial, trade and oil sanctions that had battered Iran's economy.

Mark Vaile, the trade minister at the time, led Australia's last business delegation to Iran in 2002.