Iran announced plans on Wednesday to replace the US dollar with the euro in official financial reporting, according to Al Jazeera, following the first foreign exchange swap in Iranian rial and Turkish lira. The initiatives come amid a currency crisis which has spiraled out of control this year, seeing the rial fall to a record low of more than 60,000 to the dollar.
How’s that working out for you? #Iran #Rial
2018 / $1.00 American = 63,000 Rial (Iranian currency)
1978 / $1.00 American = 70 Rial (Iranian currency) pic.twitter.com/Zl822SKIBo— SM Radio سمیرا (@SMohyeddin) April 10, 2018
The policy announced Wednesday is aimed at helping circumvent restrictions on accessing the greenback as tensions with the current US administration mount. The White House has signaled that it is prepared to renege on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a move which would see sanctions reintroduced, as the Iranian government struggles to handle economic crises.
The foreign exchange swap with Turkey is part of a broader effort among target nations of a sanctions-happy Washington, including Russia, to loosen the US dollar’s hegemony. Russia is mulling options of payments for oil in national currencies, specifically with Turkey and Iran, according to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.
“There is a common understanding that we need to move towards the use of national currencies in our settlements. There is a need for this, as well as the wish of the parties,” he said.
For longtime US used to threaten with the military stick other nations in the world to keep them in line. But when some other naions around the world developed their own nukes now US for every little thing started to use US economic power to keep everybody in line. Now the nations are discovering the alternates to US bullying especially with the rise of Chinese and some other economic power houses to US economy.