Paying an Iranian supplier: rial and toman, Sheba number, Farsi documents, requests to pay in the UAE, Nowruz. We check for a lawful route before payment.
Estimate the minimum fee
The final fee and rate are fixed in the payment order
Minimum amount: 10,000 USD or equivalent
This is a minimum, not an offer or a rate lock. The final figure depends on the country, amount and the banks involved and is fixed in the payment order.
Request a quoteSettlements with Iran are restricted: most Iranian banks are disconnected from SWIFT, and banks in third countries along the payment path apply their own prohibitions. So a conversation about Iran starts not with pricing but with a check. For each payment we look at the beneficiary, the goods, the currency and the bank, and search our pool for an agent with a lawful route. If there is no such agent, we tell you so before you transfer your roubles. We charge nothing for declining.
If there is a route, the agent states the exchange rate and the fee in the payment order, and only then do you transfer the roubles. On request, they wait for execution in a special escrow account at a Russian bank, for an additional fee. The broker’s fee is paid by the agent.
Russian companies import fresh vegetables and fruit, dates, pistachios, raisins and other dried fruit, tiles and finishing materials from Iran, and also pay Iranian carriers and freight forwarders.
The official currency is the Iranian rial (IRR). In conversation prices are quoted in tomans, which equal ten rials, and an Iranian sales manager may well send a price list in tomans. Such an amount will not do in a contract: it needs the official currency. Foreign trade contracts with Iran are concluded in roubles, rials, UAE dirhams or yuan. The route determines which currency will go through, so we choose it together with the supplier before signing.
Under its own rules, an Iranian exporter must bring its export proceeds back into the country. It matters to the exporter which account the money arrives in and in which currency. Clarify this before the contract, otherwise the supplier will ask for the payment to be redone.
An Iranian account is written in IBAN format, which in Iran is called the Sheba number. It starts with IR and has 26 characters. The bank code is built into the number, so it shows at once which Iranian bank will receive the money: that is the bank we check the route for. Documents often arrive in Farsi, with dates under the solar calendar. Ask for the dates to be duplicated in the Gregorian calendar and for the company name in Latin script, identical in all papers. Attach a Russian translation right away: your bank will ask for it for currency control.
An Iranian supplier often suggests paying a partner company in Dubai or Istanbul. We consider such a payment only if the beneficiary is expressly named in the contract or a three-party agreement has been signed. We do not arrange a payment to an unknown company on a request made in correspondence: your bank will not accept such documents for currency control.
The Iranian New Year, Nowruz, falls on March 20 or 21. The official holiday lasts several days, and business life slows down for almost two weeks. The weekly day off in Iran is Friday. After the holiday, banks and suppliers work through the backlog, so plan the payment for a seasonal batch of fruit due to ship at the end of March with time to spare, and agree on the shipment date in writing.
Five steps, the same for every country. Country specifics are described above.
Beneficiary's country, amount, currency, the invoice and the contract or bill, your company's and the beneficiary's details. We review the request before any documents are signed.
We select a network company and a route and prepare the documents. You sign an agency agreement with that company, which sets the execution period, and a payment order: amount, exchange rate and fee. All of this before you transfer your roubles.
You transfer roubles to the network company from your account at a Russian bank. If you need a guarantee, they wait for execution in a special escrow account, for an additional fee.
The agent sends the currency to the beneficiary under this payment order. A sub-agent is engaged only with your consent. The route does not change without a payment order.
We send you the payment confirmation, and a SWIFT confirmation on request. Then the completion certificate, the agent's report and the currency control package. The deal is not closed until the currency has been sent to the beneficiary.
If you need a guarantee, the payment goes through a special escrow account at a Russian bank: the roubles wait there until the agent sends the currency to the beneficiary and are released only upon execution. This scheme carries an additional fee, shown in the quote before the agreement.
The agent executes the payment within 3 business days: the period is written into the agency agreement.
If the beneficiary's bank accepts payment only from a specific payer, the agent engages a sub-agent. Only with your consent. Your agency agreement does not change.
For large volumes, on request, we assign an agent backed by a large exporter's surety; some companies in our network have one. It can be combined with escrow.
Tell us the rate you pay now or send your current agent’s documents. We’ll calculate the all-in cost with the FX markup and charges and look for a lower rate in our network. If there isn’t one, we’ll say so. The comparison is free.
We check each payment to Iran separately: the beneficiary, the goods, the currency and the bank. If no lawful route can be put together, we will tell you before you transfer your roubles.
A toman equals ten rials and exists only in conversation. The contract needs the official currency and an amount in it, otherwise the bank cannot reconcile the payment. Ask the supplier to correct the documents.
Iranian banks are mostly disconnected from SWIFT, so the form of confirmation depends on the route. We agree on which document you will receive before you transfer your roubles.
Only if the contract expressly names that company as the beneficiary or the parties have signed a tripartite agreement. We do not arrange a payment to a third company on a request made in correspondence.
Dates under the Iranian solar calendar. Ask for them to be duplicated in the Gregorian calendar: your bank checks the contract dates against it.
Describe the payment. We'll reply with a proposed route and terms. We name the agent in advance, and the rate and fee go into the payment order before your roubles are debited.