Europe: Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has called on EU countries to fulfill their economic obligations to facilitate trade with Iran in the face of US sanctions, Iran Press reported.
Discussion on the JCPOA and ways to preserve trade and economic cooperation between Iran and Italy in the face of US sanctions are part of the topics reviewed during his one-day visit to Italy.
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Italy is considered as one of Iran’s most important trade partners in the European Union, and one of the eight countries which the US granted exemption from Iran's sanctions.
Italian oil major Eni was reported on Nov. 06 to be looking at the Iran sanctions measures to see if it can use Iranian crudes to allow it greater flexibility in procuring supplies. The company added it would fully study the measures regarding the ways to use Iranian crude in the time of sanctions.
On May 8, the US as one of the signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, withdrew from the agreement and re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran which had been lifted under the JCPOA. Iran has stressed that it would continue to abide by the JCPOA as long as other parties and the EU could guarantee the country's economic interests.
For this purpose, the EU has been working on a financial mechanism, the so-called Special Purpose Vehicle, to facilitate trade transaction with Iran in the face of US sanctions.
The SPV could be used to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods in an effective barter arrangement circumventing US sanctions, based on global use of the dollar for oil sales.
Islamic republic of Iran has warned it could scrap the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, if the EU fails to preserve the deal’s economic benefits for Iran.
The goal was to have the SPV legally in place by this month though not operational until next year, six EU diplomats told Reuters. 103
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