Iraqi: New Initiatives Regarding Europe's Financial Mechanism Are Being Designed

Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, announced on Wednesday, November 21, that he had met with representatives from Britain and France in Tehran and stated that new initiatives regarding the European Union's special financial mechanism (SPV) are being designed. Araghchi tweeted: "Yesterday and today, I had good meetings in Tehran with political directors and nuclear negotiators from England and France. The political will of the European Union and the three European countries to preserve the JCPOA remains serious. New initiatives regarding the SPV are being designed, and our expert negotiations with them continue." The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister did not provide further details about these initiatives. The U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the JCPOA, on May 8 of this year reinstated all sanctions that the United States had suspended under this agreement. Meanwhile, European countries are trying to maintain the nuclear agreement with Iran and are working to create a financial channel to continue financial and banking transactions with Iran. However, none of the 28 member countries of the European Union have agreed to host this special mechanism so far. Previously, media reports indicated that Austria and Luxembourg had refused to host this special mechanism. In this context, reports indicate that the political director of the French Foreign Ministry traveled to Tehran on Wednesday. According to IRNA, on Wednesday, Abbas Araghchi and Nicolas de Rivière, the political director of the French Foreign Ministry, met to discuss the "latest status of the JCPOA and the final stages of registering and launching the special financial transaction channel." According to the report, "The two sides also consulted and exchanged views on France's commitments and those of other European JCPOA members to normalize economic relations with Iran, counter the negative effects of illegal U.S. sanctions, ways to expand bilateral relations, and some security, regional, and international issues." IRNA reported that during this meeting, "the French side presented a report on the final stages of registering and launching the special financial transaction channel and some unforeseen difficulties in this path, as well as the measures of the three European countries to resolve these difficulties and establish and start this channel as soon as possible to the Iranian delegation." Meanwhile, the U.S. had previously warned European institutions about non-dollar trade with the Islamic Republic. The U.S. special representative for Iran threatened that European banks and companies that resort to the EU's special mechanism to continue trade with Iran "risk new U.S. sanctions."