Russia Unifies National Payments System with that of Iran

The implementation of the unification of the national payment systems of Iran and Russia began today with the domestic MIR officially connected to the Iranian Shetab system.

This is the first tie-up for ATM transfer with a foreign country ever since Russia was cut-off from SWIFT after the Ukraine war began.

With this Iran- issued credit and debit cards will be valid in Russian ATMS.  In addition Iranian and  businessmen will be able to transfer funds to their associates in Russia.

The debugging of all financial solutions related to the unification of the two national payment systems is still ongoing. But guests from Iran can  withdraw cash from Shetab cards in rubles at Russian ATMs, Tasnim news agency reported.

The next stage of integration of payment systems bypassing the Western payment systems such as SWIFT will include the possibility for Russians to withdraw cash using MIR cards in Iran. The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic to the Russian Federation, Kazem Jalali, suggested that Russian cards will start working in Iran in about six months. Then it is planned to implement the possibility of paying for goods with cards of both countries in stores of the Russian Federation and Iran without restrictions.

Russia already has arrangements with China, India and several CIS countries for trade in national currencies. However ATM transactions are not part of them as the currencies of these countries are connected through SWIFT and may run afoul of the West-led payments settlement system.