The central banks of Iran and Russia held talks on the possibility of merging the national payment systems "Mir" and "Shetab". This was stated by Iranian Minister of Economy and Finance Ehsan Khanduzi, whose words are quoted by the local news portal Hamshahri Online. The minister claims that the integration of payment systems can be carried out in a few months, after which Russian holders of Mir cards will be able to use them in Iran.
“Good negotiations have taken place between the regulators of Iran and Russia, and I hope that within the next two to three months the result will be the integration of banking networks, as well as the Shetab and Mir systems,” Khanduzi said.
According to the minister, the integration of financial systems will allow companies from both countries to increase cooperation and significantly simplify mutual financial transactions. Similarly, there will be positive developments in relation to tourism – travelers from the two countries will be able to pay in the host country without any problems, the official is sure. The Iranian authorities promised to begin the integration of the two payment systems back in August, then Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Cooperation Mehdi Safari spoke about this, but the parties did not move on to concrete actions in two months.
The Russian payment system Mir was conceived as a global competitor to Mastercard and Visa systems, but due to the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions, its international capabilities were reduced to zero. US and EU threats against countries that continued to work with the system finally deprived Mir of the status of an international payment system – from the end of summer, Vietnam, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Armenia and other states refused to use Mir cards. The West is confident that the payment system can be used to circumvent sanctions.