Finance12 August, 20262 min read
Abdolnaser Hemmati Says Iran Will Soon Join BRICS New Development Bank
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Iran will join BRICS New Development Bank soon. Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati announced the move publicly.
BRICS Bank Bid
Iran’s central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said Iran will soon become a member of the New Development Bank, the BRICS-backed financial institution, and he framed it as “the most important outcome of cooperation among BRICS member states.” Hemmati also said Iran has begun expanding cooperation with India in “monetary, banking and digital economy fields,” while the Jerusalem Post reported the announcement as Iran set to join the BRICS Bank in the near future.
The Jerusalem Post added that the New Development Bank is a multilateral development bank established by BRICS to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries, and it noted that the next BRICS Summit will take place in September. Mehr News Agency reported that Hemmati made the remarks during the BRICS summit in India, and it said he called the bank “the most important achievement of the bloc's cooperation.”
Summit, Currencies, Dollar
Mehr News Agency said Hemmati told the summit that BRICS members could conduct trade with each other using national currencies, and it said Tehran was pursuing bilateral and trilateral monetary cooperation with BRICS member states. The خبرگزاری مهر report said Hemmati headed a high-level delegation to India to participate in the BRICS Governors of Central Banks Summit, aiming to expand international monetary and banking interactions and strengthen banking diplomacy.
خبرگزاری مهر added that the trip focused on practical steps to facilitate trade exchanges, reduce the role of the dollar in regional settlements, and use the national currencies of BRICS member states for settlements. The network العالم report said Mehdi Safari, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic diplomacy, discussed with New Development Bank president Dilma Rousseff the process of Iran joining the bank, and it said the parties designated their representatives to pursue Iran’s membership in the New Development Bank.
Economic Pressure and Timing
The Jerusalem Post linked the BRICS Bank push to Iran’s wartime economic crisis, saying Iranian officials estimated that some two million people have lost work “directly or indirectly” due to the conflict and a prolonged nationwide internet blackout. It also cited Iranian Deputy Labor Minister Gholamhossein Mohammadi as saying the conflict had resulted in the loss of more than one million jobs and left another two million people “directly or indirectly unemployed,” according to statements given to Tasnim.
In parallel, the network العالم report said the New Development Bank was established in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa with a capital of $100 billion, and it said its headquarters is in Shanghai, China. The Reuters-like finance framing in Iran International also placed the BRICS banking announcement alongside wider regional shipping and enforcement developments, including US Central Command saying the blockade remained “in full effect” and that it had redirected 55 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two as of Tuesday.