Salehi's Hope for Europe's Promises to Materialize Before the New Year

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization expressed hope on Thursday that Europe's "promises" for Iran to benefit from the economic conditions of the JCPOA would be realized before the New Year, 2019. Ali Akbar Salehi stated on Thursday, December 6, during the Islamic Coalition Party's general assembly that "the Europeans have committed for some time to create a solution to compensate for the created vacuum so that Iran can benefit from the economic conditions of the JCPOA." He mentioned one of these promises as a special financial mechanism for Europe and noted that "the final stages of it, according to the Europeans, are underway," while also reporting on the "constant consultation" between Europe and Iran regarding the EU's proposed package to Tehran. Salehi, however, did not consider achieving a consensus among the 27 European countries to be an "easy task" and said, "The Americans have done everything they can to prevent this solution adopted by the European Union from reaching fruition, but the stages are underway." According to IRNA, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization quoted the European Commissioner and the Director-General of Energy of the European Commission as saying that the members of this union intend to conduct their oil transactions with countries other than Iran, which amount to over 300 billion euros, in euros from now on. Salehi deemed this decision a "big event" and stated that considering Europe used to pay 85% of its imported oil from around the world in dollars, this decision could prevent America's "monopoly." He had previously warned the European Union that Tehran's "patience" regarding the EU's promise to continue oil transactions despite U.S. sanctions was running out. According to Salehi, if Iran does not benefit from the economic advantages of the JCPOA, it may resume uranium enrichment at a purity of 20%. The political deputy of Iran's foreign minister also stated that the remaining European countries in the JCPOA are planning to "compensate" for the U.S. withdrawal from this agreement. Abbas Araghchi mentioned that "the members of the JCPOA are trying to design operational solutions so that the unilateral U.S. sanctions do not affect the successful implementation of the JCPOA." He also noted that following delays in launching the special financial mechanism of Europe with Iran, "new ideas" for establishing a financial system for trade interactions between the two sides have been proposed, which are "related to the management of this system and its registration in Europe." Following the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and the return of sanctions against the Islamic Republic in two phases, the European Union announced its plan to establish a special mechanism for non-dollar transactions of companies in this continent with Iran, but this plan, which was supposed to be implemented from November 4, is still caught up in finding a host country for this mechanism. Iranian officials consider the direct threats to European companies by Brian Hook, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, as the main reason for the refusal of European countries to host this special financial mechanism.