Iran’s Mechanism Commensurate with INSTEX to Be Established Soon: CBI Chief


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdonnaser Hemmati said a mechanism commensurate with the European Union’s mechanism for trade with Iran, known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), will be established in the country soon.

“In the talks that my colleagues had with representatives from the three European countries (Britain, France and Germany) and the president of INSTEX at the CBI (office) in Tehran last week, they gave a full explanation of the Iranian mechanism in line with the European mechanism,” Hemmati said late on Friday.

“We are waiting for practical measures from Europe,” the official said, adding that the Iranian mechanism known as STFI will be established in Tehran in the near future.

Earlier this week, the president of the INSTEX traveled to Tehran to hold talks with senior Iranian officials on ways to make the mechanism operational.

INSTEX is based in Paris and managed by the German banking expert Per Fischer.

The three European countries that are signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are reportedly going to use the channel initially only to sell food, medicine and medical devices in Iran.

In May 2018, the US president pulled his country out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.