TEHRAN – Reza Mirtaher, an expert on international affairs, has said that no effective action has been taken within the framework of INSTEX (the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges).

In an interview with ISNA published on Monday, Mirtaher said that the financial mechanism has been launched for a year and a half, however, no effective action has been taken based on it.

Pointing to theory of the good cop, bad cop routine, he said that both the United States and Europe seek to stop Iran’s nuclear program but have adopted different policies.

Apparently, INSTEX has been designed to facilitate legitimate trade with Tehran. It was introduced on January 31, 2019, by France, Germany, and Britain, the three European countries party to the nuclear deal.

INSTEX was supposed to be a financial channel and a special mechanism for transferring money in spite of U.S. sanctions on Iran. Its objective was to facilitate Iran’s transactions with European companies.

In late November 2019, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden issued a joint statement announcing becoming shareholders of INSTEX.

“In light of the continuous European support for the agreement and the ongoing efforts to implement the economic part of it and to facilitate legitimate trade between Europe and Iran, we are now in the process of becoming shareholders of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) subject to completion of national procedures. INSTEX was established by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom in January 2019,” read the statement, published by the Foreign Ministry of Finland.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called INSTEX a “silly game”.

Through INSTEX, the Leader said, Europeans made the Iranian economy “conditional”.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in April that the INSTEX is a preliminary step for Europeans to fulfill their obligations and their commitments are not limited to it.

‘Europeans are accompanying U.S. in extending arms embargo’

Mirtaher also said that the Europeans are accompanying the U.S. in extending arms embargo on Iran which will expire in October.

He noted that Europe has adopted double standards in this respect.

The United States has stepped up calls for the extension of UN arms embargo on Iran since April.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council circulated on June 8, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Trump administration of unleashing a politically motivated campaign against Iran and called for “universal condemnation” of the U.S. attempts.

The Russian foreign minister said the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 group and now has no legal right to try to use the UN resolution endorsing the deal to indefinitely continue the arms embargo.

China has also announced opposition to extension of the arms embargo.

China’s UN mission wrote in a tweet in May that the U.S. has “no right” to extend arms embargo on Iran “let alone trigger” a return of all UN sanctions on Tehran.

“It has no right to extend an arms embargo on Iran, let alone to trigger snapback,” China’s UN mission tweeted.

NA/PA