Tehran - Iran's chief banker said the US dollar will be gradually eliminated from Iranian-Russian economic transactions, the country's official news agency has reported.
The trade volume between Iran and Russia stood at $4 billion, which can be conducted through the Iranian currency rial and the Russian ruble, said Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Ali Salehabadi in a televised interview, Xinhua news agency reported, citing IRNA.
The two countries have exchanged a memorandum of understanding to use their national currencies in small-scale trade transactions, he added.
In a Tuesday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the gradual abandonment of the dollar in bilateral exchanges.
Iran also launched the rial-ruble trading in its foreign exchange market on the same day. Both Iran and Russia are under US-led Western sanctions.
Xinhua news agency further reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday urged the United States to stop “excessive demands” about reaching an agreement in the talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal.
In a phone call with his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Amir-Abdollahian also reiterated Iran's determination to reach a “good, robust and lasting” agreement in the nuclear talks.
In a separate phone call with Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, on Monday night, Amir-Abdollahian urged the White House to stop “resorting to pressure and sanctions as leverage” in the nuclear talks.
Both Al-Thani and Borrell expressed understanding about Iran's efforts to reach a final agreement in the nuclear talks.
IANS