The Russian national currency, ruble, is an option for dealings at the Iran Oil Bourse, set to be launched soon, an Iranian official says.

"We are seeking to launch an oil exchange in Iran selling the crude in currencies other than US dollar. It is possible that in the future, we'll be able to use the ruble, Russia's national currency, in our operations," the Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Gholam-Reza Ansari noted.

"Russia and Iran, two major producers of the world's energy, should encourage oil and gas transactions in various non-dollar currencies, releasing the world from being a slave of dollar," he added.

The world's fourth-largest oil producer is to open its long-awaited oil exchange this weekend.

The Oil Bourse is supposed to trade oil products in non-dollar currencies and many analysts believe that it could be a blow to the already declining greenback.

Russia's first deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also said on Friday, that Moscow should take advantage of the rising weakness of the greenback to make the ruble a regional reserve currency.

"Today the global economy is going through uneasy times. The role of the key reserve currencies is under review. And we must take advantage of it," Medvedev said in Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

"The ruble will de facto become one of the regional reserve currencies."

MK/MMN