Iran and Russia Want to Boost Settlements in Nat’l Currencies

Russia and Iran are cooperating in banking and are planning to ramp up the share of national currencies in mutual settlements, Russian deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko, said.

"We are continuing to work with Iran, while promoting trade transactions in national currencies. The share of such settlements exceeded 60% in 2021. The positive trend continued last year," Rudenko said Friday in an interview with Interfax.

"The interaction with Iran has been actively developing at the level of central banks and credit institutions," he added.

"The establishment of a direct communication channel between Russian and Iranian banks through synchronization of national financial messaging systems, the SPFS and the SEPAM, was put on paper in late January of this year," he said.