When Mahdi Yazdizadeh tried to import and sell a type of high-tech robot that stocks warehouses, he found himself running from one�Tehran office to the next, having to answer a stream of questions to get the needed approvals.

�The customs department doesn�t have advance guidelines so they just pass you from person X to person Y because they haven�t dealt with such things before,� said Yazdizadeh, director of corporate business development at Shekofa Manesh Co., a leading retail group and franchisee in�Iran. �You have to almost educate them.�

His words are a warning for companies such as France�s�Alstom SA, Germany�s�RWE AG and others that have expressed interest in investing in Iran once economic sanctions are removed following a historic nuclear accord.

Isolated from the�global economy for the past decade and with a population of 80 million, Iran is a fertile ground for business. But international investors will have to cope with obstacles including government control of as much as 70 percent of the economy, a judicial system deemed unfavorable to foreigners, a dual exchange rate and a culture in which tough negotiations often go hand-in-hand with doing business.

�There are multiple�state actors in Iran,� said Michel Makinsky, managing director of Ageromys International, a consulting firm in Paris that advises companies planning to work in Iran. �Add to this the Iranian culture of having to negotiate your way through, and this makes for a very complex market.�

Since signing the nuclear deal on July 14, Iran has hosted at least 15 trade delegations, including from Germany, Japan, France and Poland, to lay the groundwork for trade accords after�sanctions are removed from the oil-rich economy. The removal of sanctions is expected as early as the first quarter of 2016.

This article was written by Ladane Nasseri Golnar Motevall for bloomberg on Aug. 24, 2015.