INSTEX lacks locomotive engine; Abdollahian says
INSTEX lacks locomotive engine; Abdollahian says

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior advisor to the Iranian Parliament speaker, has said that INSTEX proposed by the European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal to help reduce the impact of Washington’s sanctions on Iran lacks locomotive engine to start working. “There is no hope for implementation of the JCPOA by […]

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior advisor to the Iranian Parliament speaker, has said that INSTEX proposed by the European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal to help reduce the impact of Washington’s sanctions on Iran lacks locomotive engine to start working.

“There is no hope for implementation of the JCPOA by the Europeans. In fact, the U.S., Britain, France and Germany have agreed on partitioning mission of weakening the Islamic Republic. INSTEX lacks locomotive engine too,” Amir Abdollahian wrote on his Twitter account, the Persian language website of Sputnik reported on Saturday.

He added “Iran needs an act to conduct fundamental reform” in view of “sanctions and economic terrorism atmosphere.”

INSTEX – Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges – is supposed to be a financial channel and a special mechanism for transferring money in spite of U.S. sanctions on Iran. Its objective is to facilitate Iran’s transactions with European companies.

After months of delay on January 31, France, Germany and Britain finally announced the creation of INSTEX, a special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate trade between European economic operators and Iran.

The European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said INSTEX will support legitimate European trade with Iran.

In May 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the JCPOA and ordered reimposition of sanctions against Iran. The first round of sanctions went into force on August 6 and the second round, which targets Iran’s oil exports and banks, were snapped back on November 4.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 16, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence urged European powers Germany, France, and Britain to follow Washington in withdrawing from the deal and to “stop undermining U.S. sanctions.”

  • source : tehrantimes, irannews