TEHRAN – U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell says he hopes “our European partners will join us in denying funds to … [Iran], and force them to come back to the table.”

“Working on a special purpose vehicle, or working on alternatives to SWIFT, are exactly what the [Islamic Republic]… wants, and their instability should give us pause,” Grenell said in an interview with Ben Weingarten published on Thursday.

EU powers and Iran have been in talks over launching a financial mechanism for months, which would enable European companies to trade with Iran as part of efforts to defy U.S. sanctions and save the 2015 nuclear deal.

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