Iran-Russia Trade In Domestic Currencies

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Iran and Russia have started using their domestic rial and rouble currencies in bilateral trade instead of the U.S. dollar, Iran's envoy to Moscow said on Friday, after the United States imposed new sanctions on the Middle East state.

"Trade) is based on our national currencies," said Iranian ambassador to Russia Seyed Sajjadi.

"We started this work long ago. Iranian businessmen are buying products in Russia and are using the rouble as (payment) currency ... The U.S. dollar has no (economic) support base," he said speaking at a news conference.

Iran is seeking to boost trade after the United States imposed additional sanctions in late December in a response to Teheran's refusal to abandon uranium enrichment.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/russia-iran-currency-idUSL6E8CK0Y720120120