Russia is considering replacing the U.S. dollar in crude oil payments on deals with Turkey and Iran, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said as quoted by RT. According to Novak, “There is a common understanding that we need to move towards the use of national currencies in our settlements. There is a need for this, as well as the wish of the parties. This concerns both Turkey and Iran – we are considering an option of payment in national currencies with them. This requires certain adjustments in the financial, economic and banking sectors.” Iran, under threat of returning U.S. sanctions, two months ago decided to ditch the greenback as a currency in its imports. A directive from the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade ordered traders to stop placing import orders in U.S. dollars. The argument in defense of the move was that Iran has no access to dollar transactions […]