'Iran to gradually eliminate dollar in trade with Russia'

Tehran, July 22 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.

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