VIENNA, July 30 -- The European Union(EU)-initiated payment system with Iran has seen the completion of its first transactions and is expected to be officially launched after related procedures are aligned, a Russian official said after a joint commission of the Iranian nuclear deal meeting in Vienna on Sunday.
The system, formally known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), "is operating in a pilot mode. In order to make it operate in full mode some bureaucratic procedures between the INSTEX and the Iranian structure similar to INSTEX need to be finished," Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov was quoted by Sputnik news agency as saying.
It was announced in January that the INSTEX, the European Union (EU)'s payment system to facilitate trade with Iran to get around U.S. sanctions, would secure trade with Iran and skirt U.S. anti-Iran sanctions after Washington pulled out of the 2017 landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018.
Following a meeting of the joint commission of the Iranian nuclear deal in June, the mechanism became operational and available to all EU member states.
Tehran wants to bring its oil exports back to the level before the United States' withdrawal from the landmark deal, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said on Monday.
"Our demand is to (allow Iran to) sell oil as it used to be before the US pullout from the nuclear agreement," Mousavi said, commenting on the situation around Europe's INSTEX trade mechanism, as quoted by the IRNA news agency.
Before the success of the first transactions, Iran had been critical of the feasibility of the mechanism, urging the EU to make INSTEX operational to supply Iran with petrodollars.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in early July slammed the EU-designed payment channel as an "empty" mechanism.
However, if the INSTEX becomes operational and supplies Iran with petrodollars, it will be acceptable for Iran despite its shortcomings, he added.
The remaining Iran nuclear deal signatories reaffirmed their commitment to the JCPOA and criticized the United States for its unilateral sanctions during the Sunday meeting in Vienna.
At the meeting, China urged the three European countries to expand INSTEX and open it up to third countries, said Fu Cong, director general of the Department of Arms Control at the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
There were tense moments but on the whole the atmosphere was "professional," Fu said.
In a press release published following the meeting, the EU said that "both nuclear commitments and sanctions-lifting are essential parts of the agreement", and participants would "continue discussions at expert level on sanctions-lifting and nuclear issues".
"Participants reaffirmed their strong support and collective responsibility for the nuclear projects (in particular Arak and Fordow) that are an essential part of the JCPOA in order to ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program," according to the EU.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia considers the initiative of the EU on the INSTEX payment mechanism for trade with Iran to be important.
"It is aimed at protecting the interests of European economic companies on the background of illegal attempts to restrict their activities by third countries. And therefore we, of course, monitor the information that comes in (about his mechanism)," Peskov told Sputnik.
初三英语完形填空专项练习题3
初三英语完形填空专项练习题21
中考英语重点单词 afford
初三英语完形填空专项练习题28
中考英语写作素材 污染问题英文词汇
初三英语完形填空专项练习题20
中考英语词汇重点难点考点精讲二
中考英语词汇短语 get into 和get out of
初中英语巧记单词(remind、prefer与interest)
非谓语动词 过去分词seated使用要点
初三英语完形填空专项练习题8
中考英语写作素材 Tsunami words 海啸词汇
中考英语近义词组辨析
历年中考英语精选必备词组(A-E)
初中英语巧记单词 中考英语词汇“for短语”归纳
初三英语完形填空专项练习题11
历年中考英语精选必备词组(F-K)
中考英语词汇辅导:选择填空精编1000题A
初三英语完形填空专项练习题25
初三英语完形填空专项练习题18
初三英语完形填空专项练习题17
初三英语完形填空专项练习题2
初三英语完形填空专项练习题12
中考英语写作素材 环保英语词汇
初中英语期末考试写作常用词汇集锦
初中英语语法动词八种时态详解:现在进行时
初三英语完形填空专项练习题6
中考英语词汇重点难点考点精讲一
中考英语摆脱英语作文中的“垃圾词汇”
中考英语复习:大学英语四级单词提前预热
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |