The single urgency bill was passed by 103 votes in favor, 67 votes against and seven abstentions during the Wed. open session at the Iranian Parliament.
The bill, if passed into law, will require the launch and use of a domestic financial messaging system for bilateral or multilateral economic cooperation, and will allow access to foreign banks and monetary institutions that are doing business with the Iranian side.
Another article of the bill requires the Central Bank of Iran to sign and finalize bilateral or multilateral monetary agreements with at least 24 countries, including China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Qatar, Oman, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Belarus, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Syria and Malaysia.
According to an Iranian MP, Hosseinali Haji Deligani, the bill aims to resolve the issue of settlement of US dollar transactions, and to introduce an alternative to SWIFT as an international messaging system for financial transactions.
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