Crossroads Asia | Economy | Central Asia

Tajikistan Taps Iran as Russian Fuel Runs Dry

Dushanbe’s emergency hedge against Russia’s fuel crisis puts Tajikistan in the path of U.S. secondary sanctions.

Tajikistan has started importing oil and petroleum products from Iran. Deliveries began in late August, the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources told Asia-Plus on September 24, without disclosing the volumes, prices, suppliers, or transit route.

The shipments followed August 15 talks in Tehran, where Energy Minister Daler Juma and Transport Minister Azim Ibrohim met Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad and agreed to set up a working group to prepare a long-term supply agreement. Dushanbe asked for up to 2.55 million tons a year (2 million tons of crude, 300,000 tons of diesel, 150,000 tons of gasoline, and 100,000 tons of jet fuel) along with discounted prices, dedicated tank-car trains, and a “green corridor” across Iran’s rail network.

The scramble is a product of Russia’s fuel crisis. Russia supplied 91.1 percent of the 599,500 tons of petroleum products Tajikistan imported in the first half of 2026, free of export duty. Tajikistan is not a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and Carnegie Politika’s Galiya Ibragimova described the cheap Russian fuel as “payment” for Dushanbe’s “political loyalty” to Moscow. But loyalty bought less fuel once Ukrainian drones began disabling Russian refineries, including the Omsk plant, which was knocked offline in early July.

Moscow has extended its diesel export ban month by month, most recently through October 31. Deliveries under intergovernmental agreements are exempt, but the carve-out has not kept Tajikistan supplied: diesel shortages began in June. By July, some stations were capping sales at 20 liters per vehicle and diesel had climbed to $1.40-$1.66 per liter.

In Tajikistan, domestic refining covers about 0.5 percent of gasoline consumption. Alternatives are scarce and expensive. U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, and Iran’s subsequent restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz kept oil prices above $100 a barrel in September. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are competing with Tajikistan for the same limited supplies from Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.

Iran is an unlikely lifeline. Relations collapsed after Tehran hosted exiled Islamic Renaissance Party leader Muhiddin Kabiri in December 2015, months after Dushanbe........

© The Diplomat