EU decides to put Iran payment system in place: Mogherini

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said the block has decided to put its plan aimed at creating a payment channel to preserve business with Iran and circumvent new US sanctions in place.

‘This is something that we presented during the [United Nations] General Assembly ministerial week in New York. The Member States of the European Union have decided to put this system in place, so they are now working on the concrete establishment of this [payment channel]. I am confident that they will continue this work in a successful manner in the coming weeks, Mogherini said on Thursday evening, the EU official website reported on October 19.

Following a ministerial meeting on September 24 in New York, the participants welcomed an EU initiative to establish a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to facilitate payments related to Iran’s exports (including oil) and imports.

‘I have to say that our partners from Asia have always shown a lot of interest in working to keep the full implementation of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action); obviously for security reasons that also concern Asia and Central Asia, she added.

‘But we tend to forget that Iran is not only a Middle Eastern country; it is also a country that have long borders with Afghanistan for instance, and that has many interests and links with Asia. I have always very much seen the interest and also exactly the same position that we have with our Asian partners on the need to maintain the JCPOA and on the need for Iran to stick to the full compliance to the nuclear commitments taken, the EU foreign policy chief said.

Back in May, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite objections from other signatories of the accord.

In August, Washington re-imposed the first round of anti-Iran sanctions it had lifted under the JCPOA. A second round, forthcoming on November 4, will be targeting Iran’s energy sector and financial transactions.

Source: MENAFN