Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 21/ Trend M. Moezzi
In the past, Japan has paid for its Iran oil imports in the Japanese yen and it will continue to do so, Mehr news agency quoted Japan's ambassador to Iran as saying.
China and India are also paying for their Iranian oil purchases in their national currencies, that is, the yuan and the rupee respectively.
The payments in national currencies instead of the U.S. dollar are a result of the restrictions imposed against Iran's oil industry and its central bank. The U.S. sanctions against Iran make it nearly impossible for payments to be made in dollars since financial institutions that do business with Iran face punishment from the U.S.