Zarif says dollar must be ditched to strip US of economic sway

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says much of America’s undue economic influence will be taken away if countries stop using the US dollar in their international transactions.

News ID: 445329

Date: 10 June 2019 - 09:45

RNA - “America’s power rests on the dollar; a great part of America’s economic power will go away if countries eliminate the dollar from their economic systems,” Foreign Minister Zarif said at an event dubbed "My Mission" at a high school in Tehran on Sunday.

In awe of these 8th graders, whose final exam was to play the role of Iran & major powers amid Iran-US diplomatic, economic, cultural, scientific & military row.
They were given full discretion on policy options—their choices proves why the U.S. should #NeverThreatenAnIranian. pic.twitter.com/9WHRKQxwYF

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 9, 2019

US President Donald Trump has been attempting to exert economic pressure on Iran ever since he withdrew from a multilateral deal with the country. While Iran has been internationally verified to uphold its obligations, it has undergone the US pressures mainly because America has forced its trade partners — who use the US dollar — to stop or cut back on their own trade with Iran.

But the Islamic Republic is not the only country to face such pressure. Russia and China have been subjected either to US sanctions or unfair trade practices.

On Friday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Xi Jinping of China voiced unanimous concern about “inequalities” in the global economic system, a reference to the US dominion. President Putin specifically called for the elimination of the US dollar from international trade.

China, which faces a trade war by the Trump administration, has said that the US practices constitute “economic terrorism” — a term earlier used by Foreign Minister Zarif of Iran to refer to the US sanctions pressure on the Islamic Republic.

‘US pressure out of desperation’

In his Sunday's remarks, Zarif reiterated that labeling and said the US was trying to pile up pressure on Iran “out of desperation.”

On the sidelines of the event, and speaking to reporters, Zarif said that Trump had, by his own admission, declared that the US was launching “an economic war” on Iran. This, he said, amounts to “economic terrorism” on the part of Washington.

“It amounts, by definition, to economic terrorism because the United States is putting pressure in terms of what its president calls warfare on normal ordinary Iranians in order to change the policies of their government,” Zarif said.

847/940