Baku, Azerbaijan, June 17
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: China has not signed any new deal with Iran to pay in cash for the oil and gas it buys from Iran, said Majid Reza Hariri, the vice chairman of Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce.
"There is no problem for the Chinese side to transfer petrodollars," Iran's ISNA news agency quoted Hariri as saying June 17. That was a misunderstanding by a western media outlet, he noted.
"We can import goods from China as much as we sell oil to that country. The reason for the problem of transferring oil money from China is that Iran has been detached from the global banking system," Hariri said.
"The problem is related to countries such as Korea and Japan, because we sell oil to them and they even do not sell us goods, instead. We are allowed to import goods just from India, Turkey, and China."
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce Asadollah Asgar Oladi said June 1 that Iran and China have agreed that China would pay in cash for the oil and gas it buys from Iran.
"According to the agreement made with Chinese officials, it was settled that after deducting a sum as commission, the rest be paid to Iran in cash or given to a third country for imports," Asgaroladi said.
He said that the agreement came after Iran requested some of the oil and gas money to be paid in cash and some be transferred to countries like South Korea and Japan for purchasing goods.
Iran is negotiating a way with the group P5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) to remove sanctions on its economy, which were imposed over its nuclear program.
According to Asgar Oladi, Iran-China trade stands at $52 billion, 55 percent of which is export (including oil, gas, and petrochemical products) and 45 percent is the import of goods and services.