EU-Iran relations - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

US Enraged After 6 More EU Nations Join INSTEX To Bypass Iran Sanctions

Tyler Durden — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 22:34:51 +0000

On Friday six European countries issued a bombshell joint statement declaring their intent to join INSTEX, or the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, a European special-purpose vehicle serving as a ‘SWIFT alternative’ to bypass US sanctions on Iran.

Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden released a joint statement asserting it’s of “the utmost importance to the preservation and full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) on Iran’s nuclear program by all parties involved.”

“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,” the statement reads.

The Foreign Minister of Finland Pekka Haavisto alongside Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammed Javad Zarif. AP Photo

Instex is an initiative set up by France, Germany and the UK in January 2019 to provide humanitarian and sanctions relief to Iran after in November 2018 the SWIFT network suspended Iranian banks under Washington pressure, months after Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear deal.

Though the new alternative financial device had shaky beginnings amid further aggressive threats from the US administration, it continued through a trial phase even though Tehran officials had complained it appeared ‘too little, too late’.

But now as this latest six-country statement announces, it will serve as the European vehicle to “facilitate legitimate trade between Europe and Iran,” while also providing incentive for Tehran to return to its commitments under the JCPOA, specifically to recently breached uranium enrichment limits. Upon the announcement, US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell lambasted the move, saying:

Terrible timing – why fund the Iranian regime while its killing the Iranian people and shutting off the internet? You should be standing for human rights not funding the abusers.

Richard Grenell@RichardGrenell

Terrible timing – why fund the Iranian regime while its killing the Iranian people and shutting off the internet? You should be standing for human rights not funding the abusers. https://twitter.com/nordrumlars/status/1200373049247379456 …

Lars Nordrum@NordrumLars

Today announced that we are joining INSTEX together with the #E3 to facilitate trade with #Iran and help preserve the #JCPOA. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/join_instex/id2680468/ …

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-officials-enraged-after-6-more-eu-nations-will-bypass-iran-sanctions-through-instex
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Iran protests: EU urges end to violence

Deutsche Welle — Sun, 24 Nov 2019 13:36:45 +0000

The EU has urged Iran to show “maximum restraint” in handling protests that have rocked the country in recent days. Iranian officials, meanwhile, have arrested protest leaders and imposed a near-total internet blackout.

A spokeswoman for the EU on Thursday expressed condolences to the families of those killed during protests in Iran and called for dialogue to resolve the tensions.

“We expect Iran’s security forces to exercise maximum restraint in handling the protests and for protesters to demonstrate peacefully. Any violence is unacceptable,” Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, said in a statement.

“The rights to freedom of expression and assembly must be guaranteed.”

Germany condemned Iran’s security forces for using excessive force during the unrest. A statement from the Foreign Ministry said: “The right to peaceful protest must be respected. The people in Iran must have the opportunity to show their discontent with political and economic developments, and to voice their opinions freely and peacefully. We call on the Iranian security forces to exercise the greatest possible restraint.”

Internet returns after a five-day blackout

Mass protests erupted in Iran last Friday after the government sharply raised the price of petrol, and the unrest quickly spread to cities and towns across the country.

While officials have confirmed five deaths, human rights group Amnesty International said over 100 demonstrators were believed to have been killed, and that the real toll could be as high as 200.

Meanwhile, the internet slowly returned across the country having been shut down for days by the government in an effort to stem the unrest.

Via Twitter, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Iranians to send the US videos “documenting the regime’s crackdown on protesters.”

Given the lack of internet coverage, it was difficult to obtain reliable information about the extent of the unrest. The blackout, which had reached its fifth day, had prompted Iranians abroad to tweet hashtags like #Internet4Iran and call for an end to the outage.

Protest leaders arrested

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday declared that the unrest had been put down. “The Iranian people have again succeeded in a historic test and shown they will not let enemies benefit from the situation, even though they might have complaints about the country’s management,” state TV quoted Rouhani as saying.

Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday the protests had been a security matter, not a popular movement, and had been dealt with successfully.

The country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement, saying the “arrest of the rioters’ leaders has contributed significantly to calming the situation.” Protest leaders were arrested by the Guards’ intelligence arm in the province of Tehran and Alborz as well as in the southern city of Shiraz, according to the statement.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/iran-protests-eu-urges-end-to-violence/a-51

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What is the EU-Iran payment vehicle INSTEX?

Deutsche Welle — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 11:35:37 +0000

The special purpose vehicle INSTEX aims to facilitate trade between the EU and Iran to get around US sanctions. DW examines how it will work, the players and its possible impact.

Germany, France, and Britain have launched an EU-backed system to facilitate trade with Iran to help European businesses circumvent unilateral US sanctions on Iran.

The Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) was registered after months of negotiations and technical talks in the wake of the Trump administration’s unilateral exit last year from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. That pact agreed under former President Barack Obama, lifted international sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran imposing curbs on its nuclear program.

How does this work?

The new entity acts as a sort of euro-denominated clearinghouse for Iran to conduct trade with European companies. In effect, INSTEX works as a barter arrangement operating outside of the US-dominated global financial system. Trade is initially expected to focus on non-sanctionable essential goods such as humanitarian, medical and farm products. It is not expected to address oil-related transactions, which have dropped off since last year and are Iran’s primary source of foreign currency.

Iran has effectively been cut off from the US dollar-dominated financial system

Who is involved?

As the European signatories to the nuclear accord, Germany, France, and Britain set up and will manage the clearinghouse. The entity is based in France with German governance and financial support from all three countries. The three countries have sought broader support for the mechanism from all 28 EU member states to show European good faith in implementing commitments under the nuclear accord and to present a united front against any retaliation from Washington.

Will it work?

There are still technical details to be worked out following the entity’s official registration.

Theoretically, the payment channel would shield European companies from US sanction-related penalties. However, European companies and banks that do business with the US may still be hesitant to trade with Iran over concerns they could be hit with US penalties. Many European companies have already pulled out of Iran in response to US sanctions.

The entity is initially aimed at small and medium-sized European companies and trade volume is likely to remain small.

The payment vehicle’s facilitation of trade in non-sanctionable essential products raises questions as to whether it will sufficiently benefit Iran’s struggling economy and help it curb runaway inflation and currency devaluation.

US response

The United States has vowed to continue its “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran over its ballistic missile program and growing influence in the Middle East. The White House has warned European banks and firms that they could face stiff fines and penalties if they violate US sanctions. However, it is questionable whether Washington would directly target the European governments backing the new entity, a move that would strain ties with key allies and trigger financial turbulence.

Iran

US sanctions on Iran target Tehran’s trade in gold and precious metals, block the sales of passenger jets and restrict Iran’s purchase of US dollars, among other punitive measures. The US has also blocked Iran’s key oil sales in a further tranche of sanctions, which came into force in November 2018.

Iran’s response

Tehran has grown frustrated with the slow European response to the reimposition of US sanctions but has pledged to maintain its nuclear deal commitments so long as it receives the promised economic benefits.

“If we cannot sell our oil and we don’t enjoy financial transactions, then I don’t think keeping the deal will benefit us anymore,” Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said earlier in January.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is under pressure from clerical and security hard-liners to exit a deal they opposed from the start. In the absence of economic benefits, questions remain about how long Iran’s patience will last.

Iran is also looking to Russia and China, the other signatories to the nuclear accord, to maintain trade flows in defiance of the United States. Oil trade with China has dropped off in recent months, reaching a three-year low.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-the-eu-iran-payment-vehicle-instex/a-47306401

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EU mechanism for trade with Iran ‘now operational’

Deutsche Welle — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 11:21:52 +0000

The EU has created a mechanism that will allow European countries to trade with Iran despite US sanctions. The move is an attempt to show goodwill toward Iran and keep it in the 2015 nuclear deal.

The European Union announced that its INSTEX mechanism to facilitate trade with Iran was up and running on Friday.

“France, Germany, and the United Kingdom informed participants that INSTEX had been made operational and available to all EU member states, and that the first transactions are being processed,” said an EU statement.

INSTEX, which stands for Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, is a payment system that will allow companies to trade with Iran despite harsh US sanctions. It will function as a diplomatic shield allowing the exchange of goods without requiring direct transfers of money between Iran and EU companies.

Giving Iran a reason to stay in the nuclear deal

The move is an attempt by EU countries to show they are serious about alleviating the pain of sanctions on Iran in order to convince Tehran to remain in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The future of the agreement was put in jeopardy when US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the deal in May 2018. Since then, the US has continued to pile sanctions on Iran and threaten international companies that dare trade with Tehran via secondary sanctions.

Though the US has complained the deal did nothing to curb Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Europeans say it is working, a fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed.

In the face of rising tensions with the US and the crushing weight of sanctions, Iran has threatened to partially withdraw from the deal if the other signatories — Germany, France, the UK, Russia, China, and the EU — can not provide a concrete incentive for it to abide by JCPOA rules.

A virtual ledger to counter secondary sanctions

The new EU mechanism will coordinate import and export payments so that cash between partners need not be handled by banks, thus avoiding the risk of drawing Washington’s ire.

INSTEX will create a virtual ledger to offset balances. Thus payments will be exchanged between EU companies importing and exporting to Iran, and the same will happen on the Iranian side. Thus, all sides will be able to complete transactions without euros going to Iran, or rials to Europe.

The mechanism will initially focus on goods that are less likely to raise eyebrows in Washington, namely pharmaceutical products, medical devices, and food. US sanctions permit trade in humanitarian goods.

US ‘abusing its global financial dominance’

Cornelius Adebahr from the German Council on Foreign Relations said companies that will be involved in INSTEX represent: “a very reduced target group. It’s not about giant sums in the billions.”

The United States has scoffed at the plan. US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, who is an advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said: “We just don’t see any corporate demand for it because if a corporation is given the choice between doing business in the United States or doing business in Iran, it’s going to choose the United States every time. So that’s our current assessment of INSTEX.”

Analysts at the European Council on Foreign Relations say, “The US has set unilateral rules on secondary sanctions that abuse its global financial dominance.” Still, they say the fact that the three biggest economies in Europe are involved in the INSTEX scheme could make Washington think twice in its assessment of the plan.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-mechanism-for-trade-with-iran-now-operational/a-49407662

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Iran’s nuclear chief Salehi: We are running out of patience with EU

Reuters — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 00:31:49 +0000

“If we cannot sell our oil and we don’t enjoy financial transactions, then I don’t think keeping the deal will benefit us anymore.”

Iran’s nuclear chief said on Tuesday he was warning the European Union’s top diplomat that Tehran’s patience was running out on the bloc’s pledges to keep up oil trade despite US sanctions.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said the Islamic Republic could resume its 20 percent uranium enrichment if it fails to see the economic benefit of the 2015 deal that placed curbs on its nuclear program.

“If we cannot sell our oil and we don’t enjoy financial transactions, then I don’t think keeping the deal will benefit us anymore,” Salehi told Reuters ahead of a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels.

“I will pass certainly a word of caution to her (Mogherini): I think the period of patience for our people is getting more limited and limited,” he said. “We are running out of the assumed timeline, which was in terms of months.”

The meeting was due on Tuesday afternoon, with no media statements expected afterwards.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran restricted its disputed nuclear program, widely seen in the West as a disguised effort to develop the means to make atomic bombs, in exchange for an end to international sanctions.
US President Donald Trump pulled out of the accord in May, arguing that it did not rein in Iran’s ballistic missile program or support for armed proxies, and re-imposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports this month.

But Europe sees the nuclear deal as an important element of international security.

The EU and other remaining parties — China and Russia — have struggled to preserve trade incentives for Iran to respect the deal’s nuclear curbs under US pressure.

ENRICHED URANIUM

In Brussels for talks on civilian nuclear cooperation that EU officials intended as a signal support for the accord, Salehi said the bloc’s efforts were encouraging but added: “We have not yet seen any tangible results.”

He welcomed an EU plan to establish a special financial vehicle for non-dollar trade with Iran but only if it could preserve Iranian oil exports – its economic lifeline.

“It (the SPV) could be helpful in keeping the deal alive,” he said. “If there is nothing to reap then what is the purpose of us staying in because voices in Iran are day by day becoming more against the deal.”

Iran’s oil exports are expected to drop sharply to about 1 million bpd in November from a peak of 2.8 million bpd earlier this year. However, output is expected to recover somewhat from December thanks to US waivers, including for two EU nations: Greece and Italy.

Under the 2015 agreement with six world powers, Iran stopped producing 20 percent enriched uranium and gave up the majority of its stockpile. Salehi reiterated warnings that Iran has the technical capacity to ramp up enrichment if the deal unravels.

“It is very easy for us to go back to what we were before – even to a better position,” he said. “We can start the 20 percent enrichment activity. We can increase the amount of the enriched uranium.”

Uranium refined to 20 percent fissile purity is well beyond the 5 percent normally required to fuel civilian nuclear power plants, although still well short of highly enriched, or 80 to 90 percent, purity needed for a nuclear bomb.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Irans-nuclear-chief-Salehi-We-are-running-out-of-patience-with-EU-572952

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IRAN ON BRINK: Europe ‘NOT HELPING’ to save nuclear deal despite EU’s £16M aid pledge

Alice Scarsi — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 03:48:20 +0000

EUROPE’S attempts of desperately savaging the nuclear deal with Iran are backfiring as the continent’s leaders are “not following an appropriate path”, a powerful Iranian cleric warned.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a leading anti-Western cleric, hit out at Europe for the way it has been handling the crisis that sparked following Donald Trump’s decision to pull out from the Iranian deal.

The Ayatollah argued Europe is not helping preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as Iran nuclear deal, reached in 2015, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Ayatollah Jannati, who is the chair of the powerful Assembly of Experts, said: “Europe has announced that they won’t leave the deal.

“In practice, by bringing up a discussion of missiles and other issues they are not following an appropriate path.”

In practice, by bringing up a discussion of missiles and other issues they are not following an appropriate path

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati

The Assembly is deemed to be one of the most powerful bodies in the theocratic country, as it has the power to select and dismiss Iran’s supreme leader, the highest authority in Iran.

The stark warning comes after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said last week that Tehran should be ready to negotiate on its future nuclear plans, its ballistic missile arsenal and its role in wars in Syria and Yemen.

His proposal was rejected by Iran’s foreign ministry.

This is not the first time Iran hastily invited Europe to do more to keep the 2015 deal on track.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said Europe is not helping to save the Iran nuclear deal (Image: GETTY)

Last week, IRNA quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif saying: “It is time for the Europeans to act in addition to voicing their political commitment.

“These measures may be costly, but if countries want to reap benefits and if they believe the nuclear accord is an international achievement, they should be ready to keep these achievements.”

Last month, the European Union sent Iran £16.3million ($21m) in aid to offset the impact of the sanctions reimposed by the US in August.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested earlier today that an unnamed “enemy” is trying to pressure the country through sanctions.

Hassan Rouhani suggested an ‘enemy’ is trying to pressure Iran through sanctions (Image: GETTY)

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati is the chair of powerful Iran’s Assembly of Experts (Image: GETTY)

In a speech broadcast on state TV, he said: “The enemy says ‘I want an Iran that’s in my control, that’s in my fist.

“This is impossible…They want to pull us back 40 years, to surrender.”

After revealing the reimposition of a wide range of sanctions, Mr Trump said: “The Iran nuclear deal a horrible, one-sided deal, failed to achieve the fundamental objective of blocking all paths to an Iranian nuclear bomb, and it threw a lifeline of cash to a murderous dictatorship that has continued to spread bloodshed, violence and chaos.

“Since the deal was reached, Iran’s aggression has only increased.

Donald Trump reimposed sanctions against Iran in August (Image: GETTY)

“The regime has used the windfall of newly accessible funds it received under the JCPOA to build nuclear-capable missiles, fund terrorism, and fuel conflict across the Middle East and beyond.”

The White House has already warned further sanctions will be issued against Iran in three-month time.

Mr Trump pulled out of the deal in May, just three years after his predecessor, Barack Obama, joined it.

The other parties to the accord – China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany- are now looking for a way to keep the agreement alive.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1012819/iran-news-iran-nuclear-deal-europe-eu-news-donald-trump-sanctions

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