Iran Exploring New Banking Channels to Circumvent US Restrictions

EghtesadOnline: The government is exploring new ways to bypass US sanctions and find banking channels to Europe, China, and Russia for oil exports and financial transactions, says Asadollah Qarekhani, spokesman of the Majlis Energy Commission.

News ID: ۷۸۴۲۹۰

05 November 2018

He said the US, as the world’s top economy, is using unjust and hostile pressure tactics against Iran “but the US is not the whole world.”

All key economic sectors are striving to find “financial channels through Europe, China, and Russia and are negotiating for finding ways “to neutralize” American hostility, IBENA quoted the lawmaker as saying.

Referring to Iran’s financial interaction during sanctions in the past, Qarekhani said then Tehran could use different financial routes including two banks in China and Turkey as well as some exchange houses in the UAE that were detected by the US, Financial Tribune reported.

Some people involved in those schemes were detained and “the channels were eliminated and cannot be used anymore,” he said. “New banking methods in China and Turkey are being reviewed because Iran is in a state of  economic war.”

Recalling the words of the Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei,  he said these difficult times will also pass with collective effort and wisdom.

According to Qarekhani, The China National Petroleum Corporation, which is one of Iran’s major oil buyers, is interested in buying Iranian oil and is busy finding  solutions to problems. The company will open a bank for economic exchanges with Iran, the MP said.

CNPC is a major national oil and gas corporation of China and one of the largest integrated energy groups in the world. Its head office is in Dongcheng district in Beijing.

NPC has been active in Iran since 2004, operating in oil, gas and oil-field services, according to the company’s website. In 2006, it was awarded a three-year contract to provide offshore well-logging and other services in the major South Pars Gas Field.

The lawmaker said banking relations with the outside world are still in place and the Central Bank of Iran is doing all it can to help facilitate international commercial ties.

"New banking schemes to circumvent the sanctions are being analyzed by several organizations and CBI has held negotiations with Europeans, Turkey, and Russia to reduce the impact of sanctions on our economy" he concluded.

Washington on Monday will reintroduce far-reaching sanctions on Iran’s oil export and banking sectors to, what it says, force Tehran to come to the negotiating table for a new deal different from the 2015 international nuclear agreement.