TEHRAN (RT) - Moscow and Tehran have essentially turned away from the greenback in bilateral trade, and are using the ruble and rial for payments, the Russian ambassador to the Islamic Republic has revealed.
Turning to cross-currency trade was a "vital” issue for both Russia and Iran, and the two countries are planning to use "all available means” to boost these efforts, Levan Dzhagaryan said in an interview with TASS.
"We have already essentially dropped the dollar in cooperation with the Iranians, we will rely on the Russian ruble and the Iranian rial, and in case of urgent need, on the euro, if we have no other options,” the diplomat said. He added that banking structures in both countries have the potential to cope with this "difficult” task.
Despite efforts by European countries to keep trading with the Islamic Republic after the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear agreement, their efforts still do not fully address Tehran’s interests, Dzhagaryan believes.
The diplomat said that the payment system recently created by France, Germany and the UK to facilitate trade with Iran raises "more questions than it answers,” claiming that it does not change the state of affairs for Tehran.