TEHRAN – Iran’s combined road and rail transit volume in the past Iranian year (ended in March 2025) exceeded the first-year target of the country’s 7th National Development Plan by 25 percent, reaching a record 17.5 million metric tons, a senior official said on Thursday.

Hamid Mohammadi, Deputy Head of the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization’s Office of International Transport and Transit, said this marks the second consecutive year that Iran has broken its land transit record. In the year ending March 2024, the country recorded 14.75 million tons in transit, he added.

The Seventh National Development Plan had projected 16 million tons of combined road and rail transit for the first year, a figure now surpassed by a significant margin.

Mohammadi credited the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s regional transport diplomacy, highlighting recent agreements to lower road tolls with Turkmenistan, a one-year exemption of Iranian trucks from fees in Uzbekistan, and increased exchange of transport permits with neighboring countries.

He also pointed to both technical and administrative upgrades, including the activation of a comprehensive international logistics system and implementation of digital queue management for freight trucks at border terminals, which have helped improve conditions for the private sector.

To sustain this growth trajectory, Mohammadi said, Iran must move away from outdated practices at border crossings. "We need to reform border processes and avoid congestion at zero-point borders," he stressed, adding that constructing more parking facilities is not a viable solution. "These processes should take place in the border hinterlands."

Iran currently operates 26 active border terminals under the supervision of the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, out of a total of 32 approved terminals. Mohammadi noted that with further land allocation from other agencies, the government stands ready to expand infrastructure at these points.

He also reported that roughly 600 million tons of domestic freight were moved via Iran’s road network last year, confirming there are no infrastructure bottlenecks limiting transit volume at present. However, he noted that achieving the government’s long-term goal of 40 million tons of transit volume will require systemic changes at border facilities.

EF/