Iranian FM to Brief MPs on INSTEX

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is slated to attend a meeting of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Monday to brief its members of the European Union’s special financial mechanism for trade with Iran known as INSTEX.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Ali Najafi said according to schedule, Zarif plans to attend today’s evening meeting of the commission.

Zarif will submit a report on the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) as well as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), he added.

In the meeting, the conditions imposed by European authorities on the implementation of these financial mechanisms, as well as the implementation process will be examined and the members of the commission will also raise their questions and ambiguities, Najafi stated.

Britain, France and Germany on Thursday issued a joint statement on the creation of the INSTEX that will allow trade between the EU and Iran without relying on direct financial transactions.

“INSTEX will support legitimate European trade with Iran, focusing initially on the sectors most essential to the Iranian population -- such as pharmaceutical, medical devices and agri-food goods,” the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany and France -- Jeremy Hunt, Heiko Maas and Jean-Yves Le Drian -- said in the joint statement.

INSTEX has been registered in France and will be run by German banker and former Commerzbank manager Per Fischer. The new special purpose vehicle will have a supervisory board consisting of diplomats from all three countries: Miguel Berger of Germany, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne of France and Simon McDonald of Britain.

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.

On May 8, 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 exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.

Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country.

The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.

source: Tasnim News Agency