Three key countries including two Muslim states ditch US dollar
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ISLAMABAD - Iran and Russia have ditched the dollar and are now carrying out all their transactions in national currencies, Iran’s Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati says.
“Now all of our financial transactions with Russia are through the national currency of the two countries.
About 30% to 50% of the trade with Turkey is also done with the national currency and the rest with the euro,” he told reporters in Tehran after a cabinet meeting.
“This trend is gradually removing the dollar from the trading cycle, with many countries now willing to trade in their national currency so that the US does not oversee their trade,” Hemmati added.
On Friday, the United States imposed another round of sanctions on Iran’s central bank, but analysts cast doubt on their effectiveness because Iranian banks are already cut off from the American financial system.
The US Treasury Department said the sanctions target the Central Bank of Iran, the National Development Fund of Iran and Etemad Tejarate Pars Co.
US President Donald Trump said the sanctions were the highest ever imposed on a country, while Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin boasted Washington had cut off “all source of funds to Iran”.
The sanctions, championed by former national security adviser John Bolton who was ousted this month, are part of the US “maximum pressure” campaign to force Tehran over its nuclear program and influential regional role, Press TV has reported.
