Iranian central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said in a state media report on Wednesday that Iran will soon join the New Development Bank, the multilateral lender established by the BRICS group of nations. This comes ahead of a BRICS finance meeting scheduled to be held in India.
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"The most important result of cooperation among BRICS member countries is the establishment of the New Development Bank, and our country will soon become a member of this bank," Hemmati said, according to state media.
Hemmati said Iran believes BRICS members can conduct trade in their national currencies and is seeking bilateral and trilateral monetary cooperation with other member countries.
Iran joined BRICS in 2024 as part of the group’s expansion, a move aimed at strengthening economic ties among emerging economies. Since then, Tehran has expressed its interest in becoming a member and shareholder of the New Development Bank (NDB).
The NDB was established in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects. The bank has since expanded its membership to include the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other emerging economies.
Iran remains under extensive US and international sanctions and has yet to reach a peace agreement to end its ongoing conflict with the US and Israel, increasing Tehran’s incentive to seek alternative financial channels outside the dollar-based system.
The issue of Iran’s frozen assets had been part of discussions between Tehran and Washington under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in June as a possible framework to end the war. The agreement has since collapsed.
The US and other governments have held Iranian assets under “freeze” measures for decades, as cited by Al Jazeera.
The exact value of Iran’s frozen assets is unclear, but some estimates put the figure at around $100 billion. Washington first froze Iranian funds in 1979, following the seizure of US hostages at the American embassy in Tehran.
Trump said on Tuesday that Iran was struggling to access borrowing and claimed that the US had control over frozen Iranian assets. “I'm their banker,” Trump said.
Trump also claimed that Iran’s economy was in severe distress, citing what he said was 300% inflation, a currency with “almost no value” and difficulties in paying its soldiers. He also claimed that Iranian troops were leaving, saying the situation was “not sustainable”.
Trump outlined three possible approaches to the conflict: maintaining the current pressure and allowing Iran’s economy to deteriorate, launching a major military attack by hitting Iran “really, really hard”, or relying primarily on economic pressure. He said economic pressure was already part of the US approach.
