Iranian bank cards can be used in Russia

Iranians, whose country is cut off from the global banking system due to international sanctions, can now withdraw money in Russia with an Iranian card, state television reported. Iranian banks have been excluded since 2018 from the service SWIFT financial messaging, which governs the vast majority of transactions worldwide.

This decision, taken in the wake of the reestablishment of American sanctions following the withdrawal of the United States from the Iranian nuclear agreement, prevents any international financial transaction with an establishment in Iran. Since Monday, however, Iranian bank cards can be used in Russia, state television said, showing a withdrawal of money in Russia with an Iranian card from an ATM.

This operation was made possible thanks to the connection on Monday of the Iranian interbank network Shetab to its Russian equivalent Mir, state television said. Tehran aims to extend banking cooperation to other countries with “a wide range of financial interactions” with Iran, state television said, citing Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkey.

Iran and Russia, two countries targeted by international sanctions, share a common desire to counter what they present as American hegemony in international transactions dominated by the dollar. Tehran and Moscow have become notoriously close since the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022. Western countries accuse Iran of supplying Russia with weapons, mainly drones, in its war against Ukraine, which Tehran fiercely denies this. In June, Iran and Russia signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation in the banking sector.

In the future, Russians will be able to use their bank cards in Iran, while Iranians will be able to pay for their purchases in businesses in Russia with their own electronic payment means, state television said, without specifying a timetable. To break away from the dollar which dominates trade, Russia is pushing for the creation of an international payment platform alternative to SWIFT, from which the main Russian banks were excluded in 2022. In October, Moscow tried unsuccessfully to move forward this project during a Brics summit in Kazan (Russia). When it was created in 2009, this group of countries had four members (Brazil, Russia, India, China), to which were added South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.