AKIPRESS.COM - German businesses are seeking to warm ties with the market of Iran, Ettelaat reports referring to The Wall Street Journal.

“The market will explode when the embargo [on Iran] gets lifted,” according to Stephanie Spinner-König, the managing director of high-tech component maker Spinner GmbH and a participant in one of two German business delegations that visited Iran this year.

If western companies are allowed back into Iran, German companies stand well positioned. Before the UN Security Council imposed sanctions in 2006, German giants including auto maker Daimler and drug maker Bayer were big players there. Industrial conglomerate Siemens entered Iran in 1868 while building Britain's telegraph line between London and India.

Iran's huge oil and gas reserves are another big draw. German exports to Iran could reportedly top €10 billion annually if sanctions are relaxed, from €1.85 billion last year.

Around 100 German companies have branches in Iran and more than 1,000 businesses work through sales agents.