France says INSTEX trade channel with Iran operational

PARIS, Aug 15, (KUNA): The French Foreign Ministry has said that the INSTEX trading mechanism for doing business with Iran was “operational” and the first operations were currently being controlled for conformity purposes.

INSTEX was the brainchild of the European members of the 2015 Vienna Nuclear Accord and its main purpose is to have legitimate, international transactions with Tehran and avoid punitive US sanctions hanging over any company or country involved in trade with Iran.

The United States withdrew from the nuclear accord in May last year and has been piling on “maximum pressure” on Iran through tough and biting sanctions.

Washington has also warned France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany – the other five Vienna Accord signatories – they would face punitive measures for doing business with Iran.

European nations like France have condemned this policy as “extra-territorial” and illegal.

France, Germany and Britain (E3) conceived the INSTEX system to get around the US threat of sanctions.

“France and its partners in the E3 continue to actively work in favour of preserving the economic benefits for Iran within the framework of the Vienna Accord,” said Olivier Gauvin, France’s Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Speaking in a briefing, Gauvin stressed that the “INSTEX compensation mechanism is operational”.

He indicated that a credit purchase fund has been created to allow the first transactions with Iran to take place.

These transactions are being processed, including “the necessary conformity controls in line with international financial norms”, the official remarked, noting that INSTEX “was created to facilitate financial transactions for legitimate trade operations between Europe and Iran”.