France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that a European-backed system to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran and circumvent US sanctions should be established in the coming days.

Iran Press/Europe: The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) “should be implemented in the coming days”, Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Reuters reported.

SPV is part of the EU’s efforts to encourage Iran to remain in the nuclear deal following the unilateral withdrawal of the US back in May, by offering an alternative payment channel to keep trade flowing with Iran in defiance of US sanctions

Earlier this week, the Spokesman of Iranian Foreign Ministry Bahram Ghassemi said that Europe has not yet informed when it is going to launch new mechanism to facilitate payments for Iranian exports.

Ghassemi said that while the European side has repeatedly expressed its political willingness to implement the SPV, it has delayed implementing it many times so far, which is unjustifiable and unacceptable to Iran.

The special payment channel needs a host country to come into effect. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 26, France and Germany – as key EU countries and signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – are the likely candidates to host the SPV. 101

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