Russian ruble could be used in oil trade deals in Iran – envoy

15:30 | 15/ 02/ 2008

MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian ruble could be used as
a payment instrument for deals on an Iranian oil exchange, the Islamic
Republic’s ambassador to Moscow said on Friday.

"Possibly in the future, we’ll be able to use the ruble, Russia’s
national currency, in our operations," Gholamreza Ansari said, adding
that the Islamic Republic was currently busy launching a new oil trade
exchange.

The Islamic Republic’s oil minister, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, earlier
said that Iran would launch on February 27 a commodities exchange for
oil, petrochemicals and natural gas on the Persian Gulf island of Kish
and that all financial settlements would be made in Iran’s national
currency, the rial.