Tehran, Iran, Sept. 29
Trend:
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said seven major European banks have agreed to open special financial channels and cooperate with Iranian banks in the era of sanctions on Tehran.
“As part of extensive effort made by Europe, seven central banks [in Europe] have agreed to create special payment channels to cooperate with Iran,” Zarif told IRIB news agency on September 29.
They will use euro in their trade with Iran and the US dollar will be ditched, he added.
“I think the payment channel could be a good idea to eliminate US dominance and its imposed mechanism in the [global] banking sector,” the minister said.
As mentioned by EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, all countries can use the payment system and get connected to Iran, he said.
Mogherini, speaking on Monday alongside Zarif, said that the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers was in the global interest and pointed to UN inspectors’ findings that Iran is in compliance.
She said the EU members were working on a legal entity that would allow businesses to buy oil and conduct other business with Iran in hopes of avoiding US sanctions.
On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
The US has also re-imposed sanctions on Iran and has devised a new wave of economic sanctions, which are aimed at pushing Iran’s oil exports down to zero.