Iran security chief had extensive de-dollarization talks with Putin: Report
Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin had extensive talks on de-dollarization of trade between the two countries during Shamkhani’s visit to Moscow earlier this year, according to a report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, which is the Arabic service of the London-based website The New Arab.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency covered the report after it was released late on Wednesday and said that the hours-long, off-the-record meeting between Shamkhani and Putin early February was mostly focused on initiatives to offset the impacts of Western sanctions on both countries, including efforts to ditch the US dollar from bilateral trade.
It said the two had agreed that Iran and Russia could increase the share of other major currencies, including the Chinese yuan, the Emirati dirham and the Indian rupee, in their foreign exchange reserves.
The report said that the agreement was a base for Shamkhani’s following consultations in China, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq to boost Iran’s access to international trade.