Iran wants to use national currencies with Caspian states
At the Caspian Economic Forum, Iran promoted the idea, which would allow it to evade international financial sanctions.
Iran is again seeking to bolster its ties with Central Asian countries following a regional forum.
What happened: The Caspian Economic Forum took place last week in Moscow. Iran sent First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber to the event.
The regional forum began in 2019, and aims to boost cooperation between states in the Caspian Sea region in trade, investment, energy, tourism and more.
The head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization, Alireza Peymanpak, said today that he discussed using national currencies for trade at this year’s Caspian Economic Forum. Iran is floating this idea to circumvent the SWIFT financial system, which sanctions Iran, and reduce dependence on the US dollar. To this end, Iranian officials met with Russian and other banks at the forum to try and set up independent financial channels, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
