Germany: E3 Working Intensely to Operationalize INSTEX
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Germany said Berlin, Paris, and London are making all-out efforts to implement INSTEX -a payment channel that the three EU signatories to the JCPOA have set up to maintain trade with Iran.
“We are working intensely to operationalize INSTEX,” German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said at a news conference on Friday.
She added that the mechanism could not be realized yet due to the very complex nature of the problem and due to some expectations from the Iranian side.
“As you know INSTEX also needs a mirror structure in Iran, which must be realized by the Iranian side,” she stated.
The German official underlined that both structures should ensure international standards with regards to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.
“We continue our talks with the Iranian side on this,” she said.
INSTEX is planned to be based in Paris and be managed by a German banking expert. Britain will head the supervisory board.
The remarks by the German official came after Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced on Wednesday that Tehran will stop honoring certain commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, which had already been scrapped by the US.
At a cabinet session later in the day, President Hassan Rouhani said the five remaining parties to the JCPOA -Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany- have been informed of Tehran’s decision to refuse to continue honoring two commitments under the deal.
On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA.
Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
The European Union has vowed to counter Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures, but it has so far failed to do anything beyond making statements.
