Tehran, Moscow ink first bilateral monetary deal

Iran and Russia signed their first mutual monetary agreement, Head of Central Bank of Iran Mohammad-Reza Farzin said on Saturday.

کد خبر: ۱۲۴۶۵۸۳

تاریخ: ۱۶ تير ۱۴۰۳ - ۱۴:۳۱

TABNAK, Jul, 06: Heads of Iran and Russia’s central banks signed the monetary agreement between the two countries in Saint Petersburg, Farzin said, adding, Iran’s offshore Rial will become operational in near future to help business people do their transactions in Iran's local currency.

Signing the deal by the two neighbors, their transactions will be conducted only through Iran’s Rial and Russian ruble which ditches dollar from the trade basket of the two countries.

Iran has joined Russian Mir payment system which will be available for Iranian nationals from late August, he noted, and Iranian nationals will be able to receive Russian ruble cash from Russian ATMs.

Russia established Mir, which means both “peace” and “world” in Russian, in 2017 as an alternative to international financial services like Visa and Mastercard.

Countries like Cuba and South Korea have joined the payment service while Mir cards work in several former Soviet republics as well as in Turkey. Reports have shown that the United Arab Emirates also plans to join Mir.

Iranian Foreign Ministry authorities announced in July 2022 that the country will soon start accepting Mir cards for payments and purchases.

The announcement came amid reports showing that Iran and Russia were expanding their economic and trade ties in a bid to counter the impacts of American sanctions on their economies.