Iran dumps US dollars in oil deals
News wires
Iran has stopped carrying out oil transactions in US dollars in a concerted
attempt to reduce reliance on Washington at a time of tension over Tehran's
nuclear programme and suspected involvement in Iraq, an official said today.
Iran has reduced dependence on the dollar during the past year in the face of
increasing US pressure on its financial system and the fall in the value of
the American currency.
World markets price oil in US dollars.
Its depreciation has concerned producers because it has led to rising crude
oil prices and has eroded the value of their dollar reserves.
“The dollar has totally been removed from Iran's oil transactions. We have
agreed with all of our crude oil customers to do our transactions in
non-dollar currencies,” the Associated Press quoted Hojjatollah Ghanimifard,
a top Oil Ministry official, as saying on state-run television today.
At a summit last year in Saudi Arabia, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
called the depreciating dollar a “worthless piece of paper”.
Iran put pressure on other Opec members at the meeting to price oil in a
basket of currencies. But it has not been able to generate support from
fellow members, many of whom, including Saudi Arabia, are staunch US allies.
Iran has a tense relationship with the US, which has accused Tehran of using
its nuclear programme as a cover for weapons development and providing
support to Shi'ite militants in Iraq who are killing American troops.
Iran has denied the allegations.
Iranian oil officials have said before that they were shifting oil sales out
of the dollar into other currencies, but Ghanimifard indicated that all of
Iran's oil transactions were now conducted in either euros or yen.
Iran's central bank also has been reducing its foreign reserves denominated in
US dollars, motivated by the falling value of the greenback and US attempts
to make it difficult for Iran to conduct dollar transactions.
US banks are banned from conducting business directly with Iran, and many
European banks have curbed their dealings with the country over the past
year under pressure from Washington.
However, the US has been wary of targeting Iran's oil industry directly,
apparently worried that such a move could drive up crude prices that are
already near record levels.
Iranian analysts said Tehran can withstand US pressure as long as it can
continue its oil and gas sales, which constitute most of the country's $80
billion in exports.
30 April 2008 17:05 GMT
| last updated:
01 May 2008 08:29 GMT
Latest jobs
