Iranian Ministry of Economy said that the banks of the country and Russia have already been connected

Iranian and Russian banking payment systems are already connected to each other, they will soon begin to open accounts for organizations of both countries and make payments without the use of SWIFT. This was reported RIA News Iranian Minister of Economy and Finance Ehsan Khanduzi.

“Today, the banking payment systems of Iran and Russia are already fully connected with each other. Soon, banks in both countries, having created a legislative infrastructure, will be able to open accounts for their companies,” Handuzi said.

The Iranian minister also noted that by removing obstacles in foreign exchange transactions between Moscow and Tehran, Russia and Iran would achieve expansion of relations in trade and economy.

“We will be able to integrate our banking platforms for making payments, without the need to use SWIFT and other banking systems for transmitting information and making payments,” Ehsan Khanduzi pointed out.

Back in May last year, Moscow and Tehran, having agreed to switch to mutual settlements in national currencies, discussed the connection of their own payment systems – Mir and Shetab. At the end of January, representatives of the Russian and Iranian Central Banks signed an agreement on work to simplify financial and banking operations. According to the head of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohammad Reza Farzin, the Financial Messaging System of the Central Bank of Russia has merged with SEPAM (System for Electronic Payments Messaging) of the Iranian regulator.

The need to unite the payment systems of Russia and Iran appeared back in 2018, when Tehran was disconnected from the SWIFT international transfer system. And in June last year, due to the start of a special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, a number of domestic banks were also disconnected from SWIFT, including Sberbank and VTB.