Iran explores dropping dollar and euro from oil transactions

Iranian vice-president, Mohammadreza Rahimi announced that Iran is looking at removing the dollar and the euro from its oil trade transactions.

ILNA reports that Rahimi said: “In our oil transactions, we will use any currency that is to our benefit.”

Reuters reports that Iran and China might start using the yuan, the Chinese currency, to settle their oil transactions.

Following the UN’s approval of new sanctions against Iran along with further sanctions imposed by other countries, Iran has been experiencing difficulties in carrying out its international trade deals in dollar and euro.

Reuters reports that Chinese officials proposed using the yuan in oil deals with Iran a few months earlier. They are also reportedly looking at settling parts of the oil transactions with “fuel and equipment.”

Reportedly Iran and China trade relations were worth 21 billion dollars in the past year. In the first half of the current year, China reduced its oil imports from Iran to 366 thousand barrels a day while increasing sale of fuel and petrol to Iran.

An Iranian embassy official in United Arab Emirates also reportedly mentioned the possible use of dirham of the UAE to circumvent new EU sanctions imposed on Iran.

Three years ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad transformed Iran’s dollar reserves to euro after predicting the “economic fall” of the US and began using euro in its oil transactions with Europe.

Contrary to Ahmadinejad’s prediction, the US dollar rose against the euro at the end of 2008.