Iran Resorts to Barter for Crude Again as Sanctions Loom

Iran said it’s open to resuming barter payments for oil as U.S. sanctions threaten its access to the global financial system, reviving a method used during a previous wave of sanctions earlier this decade.

OPEC’s third-largest producer is unable to bring in dollars or euros in exchange for crude because of “banking problems,” Asadollah Gharekhani, the spokesman for Parliament’s energy commission said, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported. It will accept as payment goods including medical equipment and agricultural products. “We have informed our oil customers that we will only buy their commodities if they buy our crude,” Gharekhani said.