On Tuesday, April 23, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced progress in the implementation of the financial transaction mechanism with Iran.
Recalling that France, Germany and the United Kingdom (E3) had created the Instrument In Support of Trade Exchanges, INSTEX, which is a financial compensation mechanism (see EUROPE 12184/1), the Ministry's press service stated that “the work undertaken is [progressing] positively with a view to an impending outcome”.
“Iran must also make progress in the work of operationalising its mirror mechanism”, added the Quai d'Orsay. Thus, according to the Ministry, “in-depth exchanges between French, English and German experts are under way, in conjunction with Iranian experts, to ensure that the functioning of the two structures is compatible and in conformity with international financial standards”.
On the same day, during a press conference call with the media, the US Special Representative on Iran, Brian Hook, was cautious about the implementation of this mechanism, which aims to circumvent US sanctions. “There has been a lot of talk over many, many months about a special purpose vehicle, and it has still not become operational”, he said. “For this mechanism to work, it requires Iran to comply with FATF standards. (...) We have not seen any evidence that Iran wants to comply with FATF standards because their economy is designed to be opaque. They do not want the press or other nations to be able to follow the money”, he added. Moreover, according to the American representative, few companies are requesting such a mechanism.
Mr Hook also explained that he was in contact with the E3 every week and that cooperation would continue. According to him, Europeans and Americans continue to agree on more points than they disagree on. Europeans “also understand that just because Iran is in compliance with the Iran Nuclear Deal, does not mean that this has somehow eliminated the non-nuclear threats that Iran presents to peace and security”, he explained.
The American representative thus recalled the European sanctions against those responsible for attempted attacks in Europe (see EUROPE 12167/14), which he described as “a good record of trying to deter Iranian terrorism in Europe”, and the opposition of Europeans to Iranian ballistic missile tests. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)