Tehran, Iran, Nov. 26
Trend:
While the European Union has shrugged off the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Turkey can be a host for Iran’s transactions under the US sanctions and an alternative for SWIFT.
“The most important thing in this issue is the US threats – if a country agrees to host the SPV, it will be affected by the American sanctions and punitive measures. Therefore, countries decide by considering profits and costs,” Member of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce Jamshid Edalatian told Trend in an interview.
The EU reportedly picked Luxembourg to host the SPV. However, many officials in the EU do not agree with it due to fear of US pressure, and the process has not moved in any direction.
“Since Luxembourg is not an EU member and many countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands use Luxembourg to bypass tax regulations, the country does not reveal the banking documents to any individual or organization and completely preserves the information, which could have been a good deal for us,” he said referring to Luxembourg as the best choice to host the SPV. “But in general no country likes to meddle in quarrels of two other countries.”
Edalatian noted possibility of Turkey’s hosting the SPV to bypass the sanctions.
“We should wait for the future to see if Turkey accepts this or not, but due to wide a range of relations between Iran and Turkey, this is likely to succeed. Hosting the SPV would reinstate Turkey as an industrial country in the region,” he added.
“Turkey seeks the leadership of the Islamic world and this is important for the country’s economy. This also consolidates Turkey’s position as a regional industrial country and its entering the region’s markets. And it can control Iran as well. Therefore, Turkey might have profits, but it would not be in our long term interests,” Edalatian said.