BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 18
Trend:
The central bank of Iran (CBI) reacted to the German deputy foreign minister's claim on Iran`s responsibility for the ineffectiveness of EU trade channel known as INSTEX, Trend reports citing Mehr News Agency.
Reacting to the mentioned remarks, the CBI said in a statement on Twitter that INSTEX was designed to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) but it did not work because European governments weren’t able to find a finance conduit and they didn’t have enough courage to maintain their economic sovereignty.
The comments came after the German deputy FM recently claimed that INSTEX financial mechanism, which was set up two years ago to facilitate trade between Europe and Iran, had not been effective and that Iran was responsible for the failure of INSTEX because it did not agree to the terms of the deal.
"INSTEX was supposed to shape trade relations between Iran and Europe independent of U.S. sanctions, not define it within the framework of sanctions," the statement added.
Back in December 2020, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, had said that INSTEX has proved ineffective over the past two years.
"The system must have proven its efficiency after two years," he said, according to Press TV.
INSTEX (the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) has been designed by the European Union to facilitate legitimate trade with Tehran. It was introduced on January 31, 2019, by France, Germany, and Britain, the three European countries party to the nuclear deal.
The mechanism was supposed to be a financial channel and a special mechanism for transferring money in spite of U.S. sanctions on Iran. Its objective was to facilitate Iran’s transactions with European companies. Iran says the mechanism has failed to meet its goal.