TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday whether unable or unwilling, the European Union has failed to create the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), the mechanism aimed at facilitating trade with Iran under U.S. sanctions.
Addressing a conference on regional developments and Iran’s foreign policy here, Araqchi pointed to U.S. moves against the Islamic Republic and said Washington’s pressures aim to prevent the formation of the SPV and cut off ties between Iran and the EU.  
The U.S. government has threatened that it would impose sanctions on countries involved in the SPV, the Iranian diplomat added.
"We are faced with a situation in which Europe has not been able or unwilling to establish a mechanism to meet Iran’s demands,” Araqchi noted.
The European Union has vowed to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures.
Following the U.S. exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.
 Araqchi said earlier this month that the Europeans have been slower than Iran expected to save the 2015 nuclear deal after the U.S. exited the multilateral agreement.
"It is a reality that the Europeans have moved slower than we expected. The good political stance they adopted is another reality. They have not prepared practical mechanisms yet and have not fulfilled our expectations yet,” he told the Young Journalists Club in an interview.
The European Union said this month it has "has accelerated” work on the so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV) to help bypass new American sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The bloc says it is seeking to use the SPV to help maintain the economic benefits promised in the 2015 nuclear deal to Iran.