They also produced 2.5 million metric tons of potatoes, 3.6 million metric tons of barley, 1.4 million metric tons of grapes and 2.1 million metric tons of rice. They also grew sugar beets, sugar cane, corn, citrus fruits, tobacco, tea. Farmers breed livestock like sheep, goats, cattle and asses. The main industry in Iran is Oil, just like most countries in the Middle East. The big oil fields are located at the head of the Persian Gulf in the southwest region.
Oil makes most of the money for Iran.
The oil industry was been nationalized since 1951 and in 1980 petroleum industry was controlled by the National Ministry of petroleum. Shipments of petroleum came to a halt in late the 1970s to lower oil prices but the war between Iraq and Iran didn't help so it started up again. The labor distribution is split up into four pieces. With foreign trade, Iran makes a killing off of petroleum exports. In the late 1980s Iran's gross income from export was 9.4 billion dollars and their annual gross pay for imported goods was 11 billion.