Cryptocurrency a Means to Bypass US Dollar

EghtesadOnline: Iran and Russia could consider using local or digital currencies to cushion any impact on bilateral trade from fresh US sanctions that ban dollar-denominated transactions with Iranians, a lawmaker said.

News ID: ۷۸۲۶۱۴

19 May 2018

”Crafting a currency agreement to use the national currencies and also joint digital currencies in Iran-Russia trade deals could help bypass the US dollar,” the head of Majlis Economic Commission, Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi, said in a meeting with Russia’s head of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy Dmitry Mezentsev in Moscow on Wednesday. Besides bilateral trade, the talks between the two lawmakers and their accompanying delegations also covered international and regional issues, IBENA reported. Russia was one of the countries that, alongside the United States, negotiated the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran. Following months of threat and rhetoric, US President Donald Trump unilaterally announced the end of his side’s participation in the UN-endorsed pact earlier this month and vowed to reinstate economic sanctions against Iran, according to Financial Tribune.