“Europeans should buy oil from us as did Italy and Greece in the past or in other case, they can provide us with $10 million to $15 million credit lines in order to have monetary transactions take place in INSTEX to meet Iran’s needs under the US sanctions,” he said.
“As the CBI governor, I am not pessimist about Europeans but we do not wait for them,” he said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Hemmati addressed Iran-Russia cooperation for reducing US sanctions' pressures.
“Russia’s tendency towards cooperating with Iran, whether the country wants to purchase Iranian oil or to open credit line for us is good news,” he said.
“Iran has regarded Russia’s capacities for supplying some of its needs for basic goods and if the cooperation is done, that would be a positive step in expanding Iran-Russia relations,” he added.
Last Wednesday, Hemmati announced that while Iran’s coordinating financial mechanism to INSTEX, Special Trade and Finance Instrument between Iran and Europe (STFI), is ready to start operation and Europeans should purchase Iranian oil or establish a financial line with Iran.
As reported, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said that his country will help Iran with its oil sales if the EU trade mechanism is not launched.
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