Iran seeks digital currency to counter US sanctions: official

TEHRAN - Iran is working on a digital currency as a solution to the re-imposed US sanctions, Press TV reported Wednesday.

A plan to create an indigenous crypto-currency was already on the agenda of the Directorate for Scientific and Technological Affairs of the Presidential Office, Alireza Daliri, the directorate's deputy chief for management and investment affairs, was quoted as saying.

Iran's knowledge-based companies have the expertise to develop digital currency despite more work on removing pre-launch flaws, Daliri said.

"We are trying to prepare the grounds for using a domestic digital currency in the country ... which would facilitate the transfer of money (to and from) anywhere in the world," he explained.

US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement on May 8, and vowed to reimpose sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The sanctions would cover Iran's banking sectors as well as its oil sales.