The paper features the state of Khurasan and South Persia economy on the eve of World War I as seen by Russian diplomats who served in Consulate General in Meshed and Vice-Consulate in Bandar Bushehr. The diplomats supplemented their reports with additional information about geographic features and other subjects, which could be useful for travelers and businessmen from Russia during their stays in Persia. On the whole, the diplomats pointed out that the economy of East and South Persia was in the state of crisis on the eve of World War I, which was caused by the prepotency of archaic forms of organization of production and sluggish pace of modernization. Other factors that aggravated the situation were political instability in the country and the lack of legal rights among the majority of the population. The author found out that the diplomats focused their attention on the assessment of the potential of Persia, particularly Khurasan and South Persia, which were located within the zone of their diplomatic missions, in terms of foreign trade. The diplomats admitted Russia's considerable achievements in the development of economic relations with not only Khurasan, which was located in the Russia's zone of influence, but also South Persia. At the same time the diplomats pointed put some factors which hampered further advance of Russian export to East and South Persia. The first obstacle was the lack of developed transportation infrastructure between Russia and the above-mentioned regions of Persia. Another inhibitory factor was inadequate support for exporters on the part of Russian government. One more factor was ill-conceived policies of Russian exporters-to-be, who did not take into account the specific features of Persian market. Provided those obstacles were removed Russia could increase considerably its export.