Sri Lanka, Feb. 22 -- Colombo, Feb 22 (Daily Star) - Sri Lanka said Wednesday it had exported tea worth $20 million to Iran to partially repay its $251 million oil debts, with Colombo saying Tehran's visiting foreign minister had expressed "satisfaction" at the deal.

"So far $20 million worth of tea has been exported to Iran under the barter trade agreement," Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena's office said in a statement after talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The tea-for-oil deal was agreed upon in December 2021, but exports were delayed by Colombo's economic crisis that forced then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down in July 2022.

The barter deal allows sanctions-hit Iran to avoid having t...