Tehran Urges Moscow to Accelerate Efforts to Reduce Impact of Dollar

Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani meets with Russia's Presidential Aide Igor Levitin in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani meets with Russia's Presidential Aide Igor Levitin in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Tehran Urges Moscow to Accelerate Efforts to Reduce Impact of Dollar

Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani meets with Russia's Presidential Aide Igor Levitin in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani meets with Russia's Presidential Aide Igor Levitin in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani urged Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special assistant, Igor Levitin, to speed up the path of reducing the influence of the dollar in economic exchanges.

During a meeting with Levitin in Tehran, Shamkhani stated that “the path towards reducing the influence of the dollar in regional and international economic transactions, which has been joined by many countries, will lead to undermining the West's domination over the global economy to the lowest possible level.”

According to the official news agency IRNA, Shamkhani mentioned finalized initiatives between Russia and Iran regarding financial and banking exchanges with the aim of funding joint projects.

He described this as “an effective model in thwarting the West's illegal sanctions on both countries.”

The officials also discussed the application of agreements in various economic and banking fields, including the implementation of the North-South Transport Corridor project.

They also agreed on Russian investment in the remaining part of the road in northern Iran.

Shamkhani expressed Iran's satisfaction with the growing economic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow. He emphasized the need to activate mechanisms to accelerate the pace of implementing economic projects between the two countries.

During Levitin's visit to Iran last January, the two countries agreed that the remaining part of the North-South strategic corridor, in Iran’s northern Rasht-Astara route, will be built with the direct investment of Russia.

The North-South Transport Corridor is a network for moving freight between Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and other countries in Asia and Europe.

In his meeting with Shamkhani, Levitin presented a report on the latest developments related to commercial, banking, and joint economic projects.

“Moscow is ready to implement joint plans and projects as soon as possible, especially in the field of transit and investments in various economic sectors in Iran, including steel, oil, and petrochemicals,” said Levitin.



Mexico’s President Amused by Trump’s Order to Rename the Gulf of Mexico

 Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Mexico’s President Amused by Trump’s Order to Rename the Gulf of Mexico

 Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has an answer for US President Donald Trump about his idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America”: he can call it whatever he wants on the American part of it.

Sheinbaum on Tuesday had been working through the raft of executive orders from Trump that relate to Mexico, emphasizing Mexico’s sovereignty and the need for dialogue, but when she got to the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“He says that he will call it the Gulf of America on its continental shelf,” Sheinbaum said. “For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico.”

Trump said in his inaugural address Monday that he will change the name, an idea he first brought up earlier this month during a news conference.

“A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” he said. Hours later he signed an Executive Order to do it.

Sheinbaum projected on a large screen at her daily press briefing Trump’s order called “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness.”

The order says that within 30 days, the US secretary of the interior will rename “the US Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.”

Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.

The first time Trump mentioned the idea of changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, Sheinbaum responded sarcastically suggesting instead renaming North America as “América Mexicana” or “Mexican America.”

This time, she just briefly insisted: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”