Austria hopeful about implementation of EU’S SPV mechanism
Austrian ambassador to Iran stressed intense efforts by European states to implement the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) mechanism as promised by the European Union in September.
Stefan Scholz told Fars News Agency on Saturday, “We are working on the technical issues and want to specify the economic frameworks and therefore, we have been working on it in the past few months until now and (what’s why) it has lasted long and we are very hopeful that these efforts will yield results in a short period of time.”
He underlined that survival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a priority for the EU as it is the basis of cooperation with Iran, adding, “Presently, there are 15 to 16 grounds for EU’S cooperation with Iran, especially in agricultural, technological and scienti¿c ¿elds.”
His remarks came after Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi underlined the need for European states to adopt rapid measures to implement the SPV.
Araqchi made the remarks in a meeting with Belgian Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno van der Pluijm in Brussels on Wednesday.
During the meeting, he warned that the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers would be in danger if European countries failed to ful¿ll their pledge to ease the US pressures and let Iran reap the economic bene¿ts of the deal.
The US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May and its ‘illegal’ move to increase pressure on Tehran upset the balance between the Islamic Republic’s commitments under the deal and the bene¿ts it gained from it, Araqchi said.
Under such circumstances, the failure of Europeans and other parties to ease the pressures, as they had promised to, has increased concerns about the future of the nuclear deal, he added.
Van der Pluijm said the Europeans are hopeful they would be able to develop the SPV soon.
“We are seeking to preserve the Iran nuclear deal and believe that the JCPOA must remain intact irrespective of the US pullout… as there is no alternative to the accord,” he noted.
He also reaf¿rmed the permanent commitment of his country and other European states to defending the nuclear deal, and said the JCPOA plays a key role in international peace and security.
The SPV which was promised by Iran’s key European trading partners in September following a meeting of foreign ministers of the remaining signatories to Iran nuclear on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York is supposed to keep Iran’s ¿nancial relations with Europe alive under the US sanctions.
In contrast with what European politicians and government are stating, many experts in Iran are suspicious of Europe’s genuine commitment to the letters of the nuclear agreement of July 14, 2015, and are voicing their discontent with what they describe as Europe’s strategy of killing time.