Iran Press/Europe: The EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Sunday has confirmed that a first transaction is being processed by INSTEX, a special purpose vehicle established in January 2019 by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran.
Mogherini said INSTEX had been made operational and available to all EU member countries.
According to the official European Union website, Federica Mogherini said: "On Friday we issued an important statement regarding the preservation of the nuclear agreement with Iran. Seven European countries are joining INSTEX, in addition to France, Germany, and Britain, who set up the mechanism. Last Friday, we held the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting in Vienna, which can be considered as a guarantee for the implementation of this accord."
The belated launch of INSTEX, months in the works, came following a dramatic day of diplomatic maneuvering on Friday 28 June meant to save the nuclear deal, but whether sufficient progress was made in the meeting in Vienna remains to be seen.
After a lengthy three-hour meeting in Vienna, Austria, with senior officials of JCPOA countries, Iran's deputy foreign minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi emerged from the meeting with news that INSTEX had finally become operational.
Speaking to reporters and journalists in Vienna on Friday afternoon, Iran's deputy foreign minister expressed satisfaction about the meeting with officials of signatory countries to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying 'good progress' had been made at the meeting, and that the meeting had been positive and constructive.
Araghchi said he will report back to Tehran exactly what had been discussed in Vienna, but he said compared to previous meetings, good progress had been made in Friday's meeting in Vienna.
Asked what were the main topics of discussion, Araghchi said: "Most of our discussions centered around INSTEX, and I can say that the mechanism is now fully operational with two or three transactions now going through INSTEX."
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