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Official: Iran able to bypass banking sanctions

Iran Materials 17 May 2012 15:12 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 16/Trend M. Moezzi

Iran has many methods to circumvent the international sanctions imposed against it, even those designed to block international banking transactions.

One way to bypass its expulsion from the worldwide banking system is for Iran to get paid in the currency of the nations it does business with, just as China uses its currency, the yuan, with 18 countries, Fars news agency reports.

Finding solutions like these will take the sting out sanctions. For example, when insurance companies began refusing to insure Iran's oil tankers, domestic companies began to offer the insurance, a top ranking official at Iran's National Security Council told Fars.

In mid-March, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) expelled a number of Iranian financial institutions, including the Central Bank, making it almost impossible for them to conduct international banking transactions.

SWIFT connects 9700 banking and financial institutions in 209 countries, according to its own website.

The expulsion was part of a wider effort led by the U.S. and Europe against Iran.

The West is trying to make Iran answer questions about its nuclear programme which it says is peaceful and civilian in nature while the U.S. and its allies contend it is not.

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