Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Granting a financial channel to European exporters for oil extraction or export to Iran by European companies is the simplest way of implementing the INSTEX and SATMA mechanisms, Abdolnaser Hemmati, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, posted on his Instagram profile, Trend reports.
According to him, about a year ago, the EU was trying to creating a financial mechanism for trade with Iran, with this mechanism having finally been announced 3 months ago.
Hemmati added that SATMA, Iran’s special mechanism for trade and financing between Iran and Europe, which will work with INSTEX, has been established in Tehran for about 2 months and its managers have been announced to the European side.
"The European side can test their skills by exporting essential goods and medicinal products if they are worried about the reaction of the US to the range of exported products to Iran," he said.
The JCPOA, signed between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany), was put in force in January 2016. The US announced its withdrawal from the deal In May 2018 and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. In late January 2019, the European signatories of the JCPOA (namely the UK, France and Germany) officially announced the establishment of INSTEX, a special financial mechanism formed with Iran for backing the said agreement.
INSTEX facilitates non-dollar trade with Iran, allowing European companies to trade with the Islamic Republic without being hit by the sanctions. Recently, a special mechanism, known in Persian as SATMA, was introduced in Iran for trade and finance operations between Iran and Europe. However, the Iranian side is still worried that INSTEX isn't operating properly.