Iran press/ Europe: Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov added that Russia already worked out a cooperation mechanism with Iran and mentioned the possibility of direct transactions with Iranian companies, Sputnik reported.
The Russian MP also confirmed that while the Russian financial messaging system still needs to be technologically integrated with its' foreign counterparts, Moscow and Tehran have already worked out the necessary cooperation mechanism.
Aksakov, has revealed that the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) is now more popular than the global network, and that Russia is already engaged in talks with Chinese, Turkish and Iranian financial regulators on integrating SPFS with financial messaging systems of these countries.
'The number of users of our internal financial messages’ transfer system is now greater than that of those using SWIFT. We’re already holding talks with China, Iran and Turkey, along with several other countries, on linking our system with their systems,' Aksakov said.
'The systems need to be properly integrated with each other in order to avoid any problems with using the countries’ internal financial messaging systems,' the Russian MP noted.
The development of SPFS began in 2014, in response to the US government threatening to disconnect Russia from SWIFT. The first transaction on the SPFS network involving a non-bank enterprise was executed in December 2017.
Earlier in October, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that his department is currently in talks with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) to consider disconnecting Iran from the network.
In late August, a group of US senators urged the US Treasury Department to cut off Iran’s financial institutions from SWIFT. They insisted that maximum pressure from the Trump administration’s campaign against Iran will not succeed if the Iranian government remains connected to this international payment system.
US President Donald Trump announced in May that Washington was pulling out of the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program.
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A first round of American sanctions took effect in August, targeting Iran's access to the US dollar, metals trading, coal, industrial software, and auto sector. A second round, forthcoming on November 4, will be targeting Iran's energy sector and financial transactions.
This is while, Iran together with the international community, are trying with goodwill to pave the way for Iran to achieve its' interests after the US illegal withdrawal from the deal.
The UN’s international court of justice has reprimanded the US over its re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, ordering Washington to lift restrictive measures linked to humanitarian trade, food, medicine and civil aviation.
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