De-Dollarized Payment Rails For African Continental Free Trade Area

On July 20, 2026, the governors of the Central Bank of Egypt and the Central Bank of Eswatini met in Cairo to discuss expanding banking cooperation, Egypt's experience with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), and the Pan-African Gold Bank initiative already underway with African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank, Cairo, Egypt).

PAPSS enables instant cross-border payments in local currencies through three core processes: instant payment, pre-funding and net settlement. Instant payments eliminate the need to convert into hard currencies and route funds outside Africa, while performing compliance, legal and sanctions checks in real time. This will save African nations an estimated $5 billion annually in Western bank transaction fees.

PAPSS, operated by Afreximbank together with the African Union (AU) and the AfCFTA Secretariat, had by then linked banks across a growing network. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which entered into force on May 30, 2019, and by mid-2026 had been ratified by 49 of 54 signatory states, is the continent-wide free-trade area covering a market of more than 1.4 billion people; PAPSS was developed specifically to support payments and settlement under it. 

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is the flagship project of the African Union's Agenda 2063. It creates a single market of more than 1.4 billion people across the 55 AU member states by liberalizing trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property, competition, digital trade, and women and youth participation.

In July 2026 the Bank of Central African States joined PAPSS, bringing in the six CEMAC CFA-franc countries and raising the total to 28 nations served by more than 190 commercial banks and fintechs through 16 switches. 

Customer  payments move in local currencies: a payer instructs a bank,  PAPSS performs real-time validation, compliance, and sanctions checks,  and the beneficiary’s bank credits the recipient, typically in about  seven seconds against a 120-second design maximum. Because the credits  are irrevocable, direct participants pre-fund clearing accounts through  their national Real-Time Gross Settlement Systems (RTGS) while indirect  participants obtain liquidity through sponsorship. At 11:00 UTC each  day, PAPSS calculates the multilateral net position of every  participating central bank, settles the local-currency leg through the  central banks' RTGS systems, and sends any residual imbalance as a  hard-currency instruction to Afreximbank, which acts as settlement  agent. The residual step still uses dollars or other convertible  currencies, yet the front end largely bypasses external correspondent  chains and sharply reduces the volume of hard-currency settlement  required.

Separately, on December 29–30, 2025, the Central Bank of Egypt and Afreximbank signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a pan-African gold-bank program intended to formalize gold value chains, strengthen central-bank reserves, and reduce reliance on foreign refining and trading hubs. 

 

A feasibility study for an internationally accredited gold refinery, secure vaulting, and related financial services—potentially located in an Egyptian free-trade zone—was commissioned with McKinsey; by mid-2026 Afreximbank had signaled a $50–100 million commitment toward the refinery, with construction targeted for the end of 2026 and operations in 2027–28. The project remains at the planning stage.

 

From 2012–2022, industrial and semi-industrial gold mining operated in 26+ African countries, with output rising in most. Production nearly doubled in Mali and Burkina Faso and increased fivefold in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), while declining elsewhere—most notably in South Africa (180 tons in 2011 to 84 tons in 2022). In 2022, Ghana led with 95.8 tons, followed by South Africa (84), Mali (66.2), and Burkina Faso (57.7).

Parallel developments are linking Africa more closely to Chinese and Hong Kong infrastructure. Afreximbank became a direct participant of China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) and Standard Bank the first African commercial bank to join the system; in June 2026, Standard Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) were authorized as the Renminbi Clearing Bank of Africa, covering 19 countries. 

 

Hong Kong's Christopher Hui advanced gold-market memoranda with Laos and exploratory discussions with Ghana, while the Hong Kong Gold Exchange partnered with Alibaba-backed AGTech on a digital trading and clearing platform. Chinese gold imports reached roughly 163 tons in May and 173 tons in June 2026, against official People's Bank of China (PBOC) purchases of about 10 and 15 tons respectively; the difference is absorbed by commercial banks and private demand.

See also:

TPR (August 8, 2026) - The Slow Demise of France’s Enduring Colonial Currency System in Africa?

MFA of PRC (2023) - The US' Economic Hegemony: Looting and Exploitation.

Iran Appoints Ex-IRGC Commander Mohsen Rezaei to Head Security Council

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has appointed former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezaei as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council on August 9, according to Iranian state media. Rezaei replaces Mohammad Bagher Zolqadr, who has been named an advisor to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

 

» Full compensation from the US for all damages

and the US withdrawing from the Persian Gulf. «

Iran goes hardline: offence, not defence.

 

Mohsen Rezaei, who commanded the IRGC for more than a decade, is a veteran military and political figure. His appointment places an experienced security official in a key role as Tehran manages its confrontation with Washington.

 

Ali Larijani held Rezaei's post until he was killed in an Israeli strike

 during the US-Israeli attacks on Iran earlier on March 16, 2026.  

The Supreme National Security Council plays a central role in coordinating Iran's national security policy and operates under the authority of the supreme leader. 

» The American presence in the Persian Gulf has been the primary cause of insecurity over the past 50 years. We will consider ending the war only after, first, we have received full compensation from the US for all damages. Second, we must obtain a 100% guarantee for the future, which is not possible without the US withdrawing from the Persian Gulf. «

Mohsen Rezaei, March 16, 2026.

Hamidreza Rajabzadeh was an Iranian religious singer who was kidnapped and had his heart ripped out of his chest while still alive. He was dismembered and parts of his body were sent to his family and workplace—the work of the U$raHell perverts who scream free Iran.

See also:
Nima R. Alkhorshid (August 10, 2026) - Iran's New Power Player: Who Is Mohsen Rezaei and What Does He Want? (video)

Alastair Crooke (August 10, 2026) - US Middle East Dominance is Ended. (video)

Iran's Methodical Gutting of US Power in West Asia | Pepe Escobar

The ways Iran is dismantling the entire American military ecosystem across West Asia with an extremely disciplined strategy are something to behold. The whole CENTCOM support infrastructure is devastatingly fair game: from costly early warning radars to full air defense systems; from hangars to logistics hubs; from fuel and ammunition storage to forward operating bases; from naval and maritime surveillance assets to intel collection and communications nodes. [...] Iran knows where everything is located—to the millimeter. No need to go for flashy photo ops, Shock'n Awe-style, monopolizing the news cycle. What matters is the Chinese torture of steadily degrading the enemy's capabilities; the strategy is painfully methodical and painfully precise.

 

» Hitting one of those sitting ducks is being kept for the appropriate time. «

   

[...] The Iranian Way of War is a sophisticated mix that may eventually be studied in Western military academies. All logically interconnected—from destruction of enemy support infrastructure to steady degradation of intel, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities; from attrition of air defense and interceptor inventories to widespread disruption of logistics. And all that is supremely cost-effective—but certainly not for the attacking Empire, as every malfunctioning Patriot costs millions of dollars and simply cannot defend scores of different locations simultaneously.

» Iranian Way of War may eventually be studied in Western military academies. «

 

[...] In the bigger picture, the Russia-China-Iran interlocking strategic Eurasia partnerships remain in full effect. That's Russia-China in practice supporting the Axis of Resistance. Iran uses the Russian Murmansk system—inexorably jamming GPS and blinding US/Israeli missiles. Iran also uses Chinese BeiDou—the equivalent of GPS, unjammable by the Americans and rendering precision to the centimeter to Iranian missiles and drones. And Iran uses the Russian Kometa: electronic chips equipping missiles and drones wreaking havoc on American electronic warfare.

 

» Just check the satellite images. «

 

In a nutshell: this is how a systematic degradation of the whole regional architecture that allows the US and its vassals to project military power across West Asia looks. Played out in front of the whole Global South. The manual is available for all, live, in real time. [...] Iran's precision, restraint, and reach are shutting up the whole vociferating spectacle emanating from the Empire of Narratives, as Iranian missiles and drones relentlessly strike fighter jets, Black Hawks, data centers, logistics depots, power plants—and more.

Desperate Zionist jingoism.

 

The Global South just needs to check the satellite images of proverbial craters across Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE. And Iran hasn't even started yet. Were Iran to obliterate Qatar’s remaining LNG trains, that would leave most of the planet with no LNG from Doha for at least a decade—not to mention the helium for making microchips.

 

Hello, ground invasion: Iran to receive QW-12 and FN-16 MANPADS from China.

The massive humiliation of hitting and disabling one of those multibillion-dollar sitting ducks is being kept for the appropriate time. And as everyone knows, Iran runs the clock, and time is on its side. None of that, of course, minimizes the risks of the escalation ladder; and we are still in the middle of what could become the Mother of All Escalation Ladders.

Quoted from:
Pepe Escobar (July 29, 2026) - The deaf, dumb and blind Empire of Piracy. 

 

Lose Hormuz, Lose the Dollar, Lose Hegemony: Game Over | Jeffrey Currie

Jeffrey Currie, former Goldman Sachs head of commodities and a lifelong insider of the dollar system, defines the one red line America cannot cross: handing control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran is not a tactical retreat; it is the formal end of the US as a global hegemon and the death of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

For the Epstein class, the only acceptable Iran is one

that caves in to the hegemon and its dollar scheme.

In 1945, the US made a deal the world still lives under: it would control every major shipping lane with its navy, and in return, the world would use the dollar and recycle capital through New York. Oil was the strategic commodity that made the bargain stick. After Nixon broke the gold standard in 1971, that same arrangement evolved into the petrodollar system that still funds American living standards today.
 

» Give Iran the Strait, and the dollar dies. « 

If the US walks away and allows Iran and Oman to manage the Strait under any fee structure, the rest of the world will see that the big-stick policeman has quit. Every other chokepoint on earth immediately becomes fair game. The Fifth Fleet would then need Iranian permission to enter or leave its own base in Bahrain—an image that ends the illusion of global hegemony overnight.

Currie points to Switzerland, where a 30-year fixed mortgage can sit around 50 basis points because global capital floods into a perceived safe currency. That is the kind of privilege the US still enjoys. The country currently spends about 7 percent more than it produces; remove the forced global demand for dollars, and that gap becomes direct economic pain.

 

» We're fighting wars. It's not possible for us to take care 

of Medicare, daycare, Medicaid, all these things. « 

 Orange ape guns and butter salad, July 27, 2026.

 

History offers no comforting precedent. No previous hegemon—Britain, Spain, or any other—lost control of the world’s most important sea lanes and remained the hegemon. The US can retreat to a Monroe/Donroe/Technate of America Doctrine posture and control only the Western Hemisphere, but then it is no longer a global power and the dollar is no longer the reserve currency. 

 

Reference:

Jeffrey Currie (July 28, 2026) - Iran Rejects $6 Billion in Return for Free Hormuz Passage. (video)

 

Iran Conflict Now Existential for US Global Hegemony—No Exit Allowed | General Wesley Clark

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark, a centrist-to-hawkish democrat, has laid out what he describes as the real thinking inside Washington. According to him, this is no longer simply about Iran; it is about whether the United States remains the global hegemon or watches its power collapse in real time. Stopping is not an option—that is the hard line now being drawn. Clark makes clear that if America pulls back and allows Iran to retain control of the Strait of Hormuz, the damage to U.S. global leadership would be permanent. He warns that such a retreat would undermine American deterrence, weaken influence in Asia, and compromise European security all at once. This moment represents a critical decision point: failure here would not be a temporary setback but the end of the post-1945 international order.

Clark rejects any notion of simply walking away or accepting a weaker deal. “Pulling back, that’s no good,” he states without hesitation. In his view, a memorandum of understanding worse than previous agreements would signal American weakness to every rival watching. China and Russia are already encouraged by the current trajectory, and he insists they should not be allowed to celebrate any further gains.There is no easy military solution, yet retreat would be far worse. The immediate focus must remain on keeping the Strait open and isolating the theater of operations. Any pause would only give Iran time to rebuild, rearm, and entrench itself more deeply. At the same time, Clark emphasizes that the longer-term threats posed by Iranian missiles and nuclear capabilities cannot be ignored.

In the end, Wesley Clark speaks not as a pundit but as a former NATO Supreme Commander with deep insight into how key circles in Washington view this conflict. For them, the war has become existential for American global power, and stopping is no longer on the table.

  

"Iran Will Make Sure the US Economy Is Destroyed" | Foad Izadi

Iranian Professor Foad Izadi of the Department of American Studies at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of World Studies has just laid out the clearest statement yet of Iran’s official current thinking. After failed talks and repeated US aggression, a growing number of voices inside Iran no longer believe diplomacy can work. Iran’s answer is simple and brutal: raise the cost until the American economy itself is broken.

» Make sure the US economy is destroyed while Trump is the president. « 

 

That is the explicit goal now being discussed. Take 20 percent of the oil coming from the region, and prices stay high for at least two years. High oil prices for two years mean the end of Trump, the end of his presidency, and the end of the American economy—three goals at the same time.

» There is no diplomatic solution. Only a military solution. «

 

Negotiations have failed for more than 20 years. Every time Iran sat at the table, the US bombed the table. The problem with the US, therefore, has no diplomatic solution. It has a military solution. Continued attacks are needed to cause enough pain so this never happens again, and military deterrence is restored.

 

» They will go thirsty! «

Iran's plan to evict 50,000 US troops. 
 

Iran’s target list: oil facilities, hit hard enough that repairs take a long time; desalination plants that supply 98 percent of the water for Gulf countries. With 50,000 US troops in the region, if those countries lose water, the troops have no choice but to leave and drink water back home in America.

Why this level of force? For 46 years after the 1979 Iranian revolution, the US never attacked Iran the way it is attacking now. Only in the last year did the attacks intensify because Washington believed it could handle the cost. Iranians are tired of being hit every few weeks, losing civilians and infrastructure. Enough is enough. The cost so far has not been high enough. Trump keeps attacking. The equation must change.

 

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims to have inflicted well over 200 US military fatalities across targeted bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, with waves of missiles overwhelming and effectively neutralizing billion-dollar US defense infrastructure.

America ends wars when its politicians finally realize they made a mistake. That is how US wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan ended. Either the executive branch or Congress concludes the price is too high, and the funding ends. 

» The President of the United States wants to give Iran's frozen assets to companies and countries that have suffered damage in the war. From now on, we announce that any company or country that accepts this proposal will never be allowed to transit the Strait of Hormuz. «

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari, July 28, 2026.

The same logic is now being applied: force the realization that the current policy is destroying the US economy, and the policy will change. Iran has decided that only the language of force works. Raise the economic cost high enough, for long enough, and the United States will be forced to stop. This is no longer about limited deterrence. This is about breaking the American economy while Trump is still in office.

Reference:
Foad Izadi (July 28, 2026) - "They Will Go Thirsty": Prof. Izadi Reveals Iran's Plan to Evict 50,000 US Troops. (video)
Foad Izadi (July 28, 2026) - "Make Sure The US Economy Is Detroyed": Prof. Izadi’s Warning To The US. (video) 

July 29, 2026: Iranian civil defense teams have miraculously rescued two children, transporting them to a hospital on Qeshm Island, as the search continues for three others trapped under the rubble from the latest US terror attack. How was this a legitimate target? The war crimes keep piling up as the US becomes more desperate.