Iran Unfazed: Europeans Liquidate Useless INSTEX

Date: 10 March 2023 - 21:39

News ID: ۱۱۳۲۱۵

TEHRAN – Iran said on Friday it never
relied on INSTEX, a European financial channel designed to safeguard Iran’s economic interests against U.S. sanctions, after the UK, France, and Germany (the E3) issued a joint statement announcing the liquidation of the fruitless instrument.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the E3 announced that the INSTEX shareholders – Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK – have decided to liquidate the instrument.
Following the United States’ unilateral, illegal withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, European governments made commitments to secure Iran’s economic interests under the deal by adopting the required measures. One of the mechanisms that they announced in 2019 was the establishment of INSTEX as a financial channel to facilitate trade between Iran and Europe.
Although the Islamic Republic of Iran “never relied” on this mechanism, it spared no effort to cooperate for activating the channel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Friday in reaction to the E3 statement.
“Unfortunately, European governments failed in launching INSTEX effectively … and they did not implement the necessary measures for activating the instrument,” he said.
In this joint statement, the E3 accused Iran of “systematically” preventing INSTEX from fulfilling its mandate.
“Iran only agreed to a single transaction, in early 2020, for the export of medical goods from Europe to Iran. After that, Iran consistently and deliberately blocked other proposals for transactions between the United Kingdom, Norway, the European Union and Iran. This was born from a political determination to impede the use of INSTEX under any circumstance,” the statement claimed.
“In light of Iran’s persistent refusal to engage with the company, the INSTEX shareholders have reached the conclusion that there is no more ground for maintaining INSTEX operational,” it added.
Kanaani said, “Tehran had never pinned hope on INSTEX as it has been conducting its international trade through other international financial and banking channels.”
Laying the blamed on Iran in the liquidation statement is a “vain attempt to cover up the absolute failure of Europe in having the minimum monetary independence from the U.S.,” he added.
The main reasons for the failure of the INSTEX are “lack of serious will” and “inability” on the part of the European governments

in honoring their commitments to compensate for the U.S. pullout from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), noted the diplomat, adding that the Europeans have been instead following the U.S.’ illegal sanctions against Iran.

Proof of their inaction, according to the spokesman, is that they did not provide any financial resources or long-term lines of credit to the instrument.

Founded in late January 2019, the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) was a non-dollar direct payment channel that aimed to keep the nuclear deal with world powers alive, but it did not become operational effectively as it faced pressure from the United States.

The first and only registered transaction under the system was conducted in March 2020, when medical supplies were delivered to the Islamic Republic amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The system was launched after Iran complained that the European countries had failed to maintain trade with the country as mandated under the nuclear deal, and bowed instead to Washington’s pressure.