DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran and Russia have linked interbank communications and remittance systems to facilitate trade and financial transactions, a senior Iranian official said on Monday.
Since the reimposition of US sanctions on Iran in 2018 after Washington abandoned Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, the Islamic Republic has been based in Belgium, a major international banking access point. You are disconnected from the put SWIFT financial messaging service.
Similar restrictions have been imposed on some Russian banks since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
“Iranian banks no longer need to use SWIFT … Russian banks can use it to open letters of credit or to transfer or guarantee,” said Central Bank of Iran Deputy Governor Mohsen Karimi in a semi-official Fars told the news agency. .
Russia’s central bank declined to comment on the deal signed on Sunday, but Karimi said “about 700 Russian banks and 106 non-Russian banks in 13 different countries will be connected to the system. ‘, without elaborating on the name of the foreign bank.
Central Bank of Iran Governor Mohammad Farzin welcomed the move. “Financial channels between Iran and the world are being repaired,” he tweeted.
Since the start of the Ukraine war, Tehran and Moscow have acted to forge close bilateral ties as they seek to forge new economic and diplomatic partnerships elsewhere.
Economic misery has deepened, largely due to US sanctions against Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme, leaving many Iranians feeling the pain of soaring inflation and rising unemployment.
Inflation has surpassed 50%, the highest level in decades. Youth unemployment remains high, with more than 50 percent of Iranians below the poverty line, according to the Iran Statistics Center.
Faced with its worst legitimacy crisis as months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young woman in custody, Iranian authorities are facing further economic isolation and a lack of economic improvement. I am afraid it will lead to anxiety.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Monday that the establishment faces “specific welfare and livelihood problems” that cannot be solved without economic growth.
“In today’s world, a country’s status is highly dependent on its economic strength. Economic growth is necessary to maintain regional and global status,” Khamenei said in a televised address. (Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by Arun Koyyur)
