European states failed to launch INSTEX mechanism

Reacting to the decision of INSTEX shareholders to shut down the system, Nasser Kan'ani said that after the unilateral and illegal withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA, the European governments had pledged to realize the continuation of Iran's economic interests from the JCPOA's sanctions lifting obligations by adopting the necessary solutions.

"One of the mechanisms that the Europeans proposed to fulfill this commitment was the establishment of INSTEX as a financial channel to facilitate trade between Iran and Europe," he cited.

Saying that although the Islamic Republic of Iran has never relied on this mechanism, Kan'ani emphasized that Tehran did not hesitate to provide any necessary cooperation for the operation of that channel.

"But unfortunately, European governments, in addition to their inaction towards their other obligations, also failed to effectively launch INSTEX and did not take the necessary and essential measures to activate it in the form of fulfilling Europe's obligations under the JCPOA," the senior Iranian diplomat continued.

Kan'ani considered the main reason for the failure of INSTEX to be the lack of serious will and the inability of European governments to fulfill their obligations after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA, as well as their cooperation with the illegal sanctions of the United States.

These countries also did not inject any financial resources or long-term credit lines into the channel during the whole time of INSTEX's operation, according to Kan'ani.

He went on to say that blaming Iran for the closure of INSTEX is a false attempt to cover up the absolute failure of Europe to have the slightest ability to be financially independent of the US.

INSTEX is a system that European countries launched in 2019 to protect trade with Iran against US sanctions. High-ranking European officials have repeatedly admitted that since private companies cannot be forced to do business with a country, INSTEX is only a symbolic measure.

European countries announced on Thursday that they have shut down the INSTEX system.

The foreign ministers of France and Germany claimed that the 10 shareholders of Instex (Belgium, Germany, Finland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and England) came to the conclusion that after Iran's refusal to work with this system, there is no reason to continue its operation.

European countries have said in their statement on Thursday that the decision to liquidate INSTEX was made solely on the basis of commercial issues and independent of other factors.