Iran never relied on INSTEX: Spox
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran said that Iran was never attached to Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), adding that trying to blame Iran for the closure of this financial channel is a useless attempt by Europe to cover up its failure to protect its independence against the US.
Asked about the decision of the INSTEX shareholder countries to close this system, Nasser Kanaani said that following Washington's unilateral and illegal withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the European governments promised to take the necessary steps so that Iran can continue to enjoy the economic interests of the deal, officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The INSTEX was one of the mechanisms proposed by Europe to fulfill its commitment to facilitate trade between Iran and Europe, he said.
He went on to say that Iran never relied on this mechanism; however, to prove its good faith, Tehran spared no efforts to cooperate with the channel.
Alongside their inaction for their other commitments, Europeans also failed to effectively launch INSTEX and did not take the necessary measures to activate it to fulfill Europe's obligations under the JCPOA, Kanaani said.
The main reason for the failure of the INSTEX was that Europe lacked the serious will and was incapable of compensating for the US unilateral withdrawal from the deal, he said, adding that they even aided and abetted the US to restore "the illegal sanctions" on Iran.
Even, during the whole time INSTEX was operational, these countries injected no financial resources or long-term credit line into this channel.
The spokesperson of the foreign policy apparatus once again emphasized that Iran had never relied on INSTEX, noting that the country conducted its business via other international financial and banking channels.