EU’s launch of trade mechanism not to affect Iran’s decisions on Palermo bill

Head of Iran's Supreme National Defense University Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said the establishment of EU’s trade mechanism with Iran, called INSTEX (Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges), will not have any effect on the Expediency Council’s decision on whether or not to endorse the bill on the country’s accession to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as Palermo Convention.

“The move by the European countries (in creating the mechanism) is just a small part of Europe’s implementation of May 2018 commitments to save JCPOA; and even that minimum commitment has not yet come into any practical effect,” he said.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Thursday issued a joint statement on the creation of INSTEX (Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges), a Special Purpose Vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate trade between European economic operators and Iran, in a bid to bypass the US sanctions and convince Iran to remain in the nuclear deal following the US unilateral withdrawal from the agreement.

Meanwhile, the Palermo Convention is one of the four FATF-related bills that Iran has been suggested to endorse in order to get off the blacklist of the the Financial Action Task Force.

Together with the bill on Iran’s accession to the convention against the funding of terrorism (CFT), the two controversial bills are undergoing intensive reviews in the Expediency Council for the final verdict.

FATF has given Iran a February deadline to complete the necessary reforms and join the task force.

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