Russia Says Interested in Opening Settlement Mechanism with Iran

“We have confirmed our interest, our interest in the fact that the INSTEX mechanism, which has already been created and is being launched by the European trio, is open to third countries, including Russia,” Riabova was quoted as saying by Russian media on Wednesday.

Britain, France, and Germany on January 31 issued a joint statement on the creation of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) that will allow trade between the EU and Iran without relying on direct financial transactions.

INSTEX has been registered in France and will be run by German banker and former Commerzbank manager Per Fischer. The new special purpose vehicle will have a supervisory board consisting of diplomats from all three countries: Miguel Berger of Germany, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne of France and Simon McDonald of Britain.

The European Union has vowed to counter US President Donald Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures.

On May 8, the US president pulled his country out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France, and Germany).

Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.

Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.

Message end/