Iranian General Advocates Crypto Use for Skirting Sanctions: Report

An Iranian general is reportedly calling for the use of cryptocurrency to evade sanctions.

Saeed Muhammad, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ “Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution” (or Sepâh for short), a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces, said in a speech Wednesday that Iran should look to cryptocurrencies to bolster international investment despite heavy sanctions on the nation, reported Coinit.ir.

“We are demanding the creation of a more sophisticated mechanism (a commodities exchange) to bypass sanctions,” he said. “To circumvent sanctions, we must develop solutions such as the exchange of products and the use of cryptocurrencies with our partnerships [in other countries].”

The news was first shared by Coinit.ir, a Farsi-language crypto news organization, on Telegram Wednesday. (Telegram is a popular app for sharing information in Iran, with Bloomberg describing it as “one of the most influential messaging platforms in the Middle East.”)

Iran has long been…