Instex Now Active, JCPOA Commission Says

Instex, the European payment system designed to allow countries to trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions, is now “operational and available” to all European Union member countries and is processing its “first transactions,” according to a United Kingdom press release. The announcement was made by the U.K., France and Germany at a June 28 joint commission meeting on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran.

Instex is working to complete transactions with Iran’s Special Trade and Finance Institute, and those transactions will soon “speed up,” the press release said. The commission is also “working to open INSTEX to economic operators from third countries,” the release said.

The announcement came less than two months after the Treasury Department reportedly sent a letter threatening sanctions and urging Instex President Per Fischer to not follow through with Instex. A Treasury spokesperson later said the U.S. will sanction any entity that trades with Iran (see 1905300035).

After Europe announced that Instex was active, Iran said the payment system was not sufficient and called on European states to do more to lessen the impact of U.S. sanctions and normalize trade with the country, according to a July 1 report from Iran’s Fars News Agency. Instex has not “met our demand,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said, according to the agency, which is widely thought to be controlled by the government of Iran. “We have declared to the Europeans that if they take more practical, tangible and complete measures, Iran's measures in line with modifying its undertakings could be reversed, otherwise, we will continue (modification measures).”