Cryptocurrency could help Iran evade sanctions
According to Iranian media, Iran is a step closer to developing a cryptocurrency by which it could circumvent US sanctions, set to be reimposed following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA.
Iran’s IRNA news agency has quoted Alireza Daliri of the Directorate for Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Presidential Office as saying:
‘We are trying to prepare the grounds to use a domestic digital currency in the country. This currency would facilitate the transfer of money (to and from) anywhere in the world. Besides, it can help us at the time of sanctions.’
He said that a number of Iranian companies were working with the Central Bank of Iran to achieve the aim, and that such a system could be introduced within the next few months.
As the reimposition of US sanctions looms, and the Iranian economy deteriorates, the two countries are locked into a war of tweets.
Donald Trump tweeted on 23 July, that if Iran ‘threatens the US again,’ the country ‘WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE…BE CAUTIOUS.’
Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif responded in kind, tweeting:
‘COLOR US UNIMPRESSED: The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago. And Iranians have heard them —albeit more civilized ones—for 40 yrs. We’ve been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, incl our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. BE CAUTIOUS!’
