Tehran expects that major financial institutions of Russia and Iran will soon start cooperating, Iran's Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei said.





MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to Sanaei, Tehran and Moscow have achieved some positive results in talks on establishing the Russian-Iranian bank.


"It is expected that large banks of the two countries will soon start bilateral cooperation," the ambassador told the Russian Kommersant newspaper in an interview.


The diplomat also expressed hope that the central banks of Russia and Iran would "take effective steps toward national currencies exchange" to promote the development and extension of trade and economic ties between the countries.

Tehran is also interested in Russia's presence in various investment projects in Iran, the ambassador added.

Most of the large Russian banks have disconnected their relations with Iranian banks in the past few years amid Western sanctions against Tehran imposed over fears Iran was developing nuclear weapons. The sanctions were lifted earlier this year, after the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report in January stating that it had found no evidence of nuclear weapons development in Iran since 2009.

By Sputnik