Iran, Russia Weigh Plans for Joint Interbank Payment System
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari unveiled plans for the creation of a joint interbank payment system between Iran and Russia, something akin to SWIFT.
In an interview with Sputnik, Safari said, “Naturally, two countries that want to dedollarize their transactions must have a special system similar to SWIFT. The Iranian and Russian sides each proposed one version of such a system. Now, we have practically reached a very good agreement, on the basis of which we could carry out currency transactions between the two countries.”
The Iranian diplomat also noted that Mir -a Russian payment system for electronic fund transfers established by the Central Bank of Russia- will soon be launched in Iran, saying there are agreements on the matter.
Last week, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran announced the launch of rial/Russian ruble trading at the Tehran exchange.
"The launching of trading in the ruble/Iranian rial currency pair is an important step in the development of economic relations between Iran and Russia," Ali Salehabadi said.
The announcement comes as Moscow and Tehran agreed to expand their cooperation, particularly in banking and financial systems.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had announced earlier that Russia would gradually abandon the US dollar in its trade with Iran.
The harsh Western sanctions aimed at the financial systems of both countries appear to have brought Moscow and Tehran closer together. Iran's Bank Melli and Russia's Sberbank signed cooperation agreements on July 17 and plan to strengthen Iranian-Russian trade ties further.
A new trade center was also established under the auspices of Mir Business Bank, a Russian bank in which Bank Melli is the sole shareholder.
