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| Iran is attending a "joint commission" in the Austrian capital with representatives from China, Russia, Britain, Germany and France -- all signatories of the international deal on Iran's nuclear programme (AFP Photo/JOE KLAMAR) |
Vienna (AFP) - Iran hopes to have its part of a new payments vehicle -- devised to allow it to trade with EU firms despite US sanctions -- -- ready within a fortnight, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday.
"We
hope it will be before the end of the Iranian calendar year," Araghchi told
reporters in Vienna, referring to March 20.
He said
that Iran now had a "clearer picture" of how the new vehicle, known
as INSTEX -- short for Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges - -- would work
and that its managing director would visit Tehran for discussions "very
soon".
But he
added that only when the mechanism becomes fully operational would Iran be able
to assess whether it "can work properly and can produce results, (and) can
do payments between Iran and European countries".
Araghchi
was in the Austrian capital for a "joint commission" with
representatives from China, Russia, Britain, Germany and France -- all
signatories of the international deal on Iran's nuclear programme.
INSTEX was
launched at the end of January by Britain, France and Germany.
It is seen
as key to European Union efforts to preserve the deal struck in 2015 between
world powers and Iran over its nuclear programme, the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action (JCPOA).
The US was
also a signatory but last May President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and
in November imposed sweeping new sanctions on Iran.
Remaining
members 'united'
Araghchi
said there was "very strong support" for the deal from all
participants at the meeting.
He
emphasised that Iran expects INSTEX to work "for all goods and
commodities, not only humanitarian goods", but that it could start with
humanitarian goods "in order to set the patterns for doing business with
Iran".
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Tehran's
deputy foreign miniser Abbas Araghchi (R) and EU External Action Service
secretary general Helga Schmid at the joint commission on the Iran nuclear deal
(AFP Photo/JOE KLAMAR)
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"Once
the patterns are set, then other goods, including sanctioned goods -- and oil
of course -- would be added to this mechanism," he added.
"It is
late but still a move in the right direction," Araghchi said.
INSTEX, to
be registered in France with German governance, will allow Iran to trade with
EU companies despite Washington reimposing sanctions after President Donald
Trump pulled out of the 2015 accord.
The EU
representative, who chairs the joint commission, said in a statement after the
meeting that the EU would continue to support the work to make INSTEX
operational "as soon as possible in close coordination with an Iranian
corresponding entity which is being established".
Russia's
ambassador to Vienna's UN organisations, Mikhail Ulyanov, who was also at the
meeting, told AFP the remaining signatories to the deal are "united in the
need to save the JCPOA".
"There
are some problems, particularly in the economic field but we are aimed at
overcoming them as soon as possible," Ulyanov said.
He said the
speed with which INSTEX became fully operational was up to Germany, France,
Britain and Iran.
But Ulyanov
added: "I believe it may take a rather long time, at least a few months;
most likely even more."
In February
the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog said Iran was adhering to
the terms of the JCPOA, under which Tehran drastically scaled back its nuclear
programme in return for sanctions relief.
Washington
has urged European signatories to the JCPOA to follow Trump's example and
withdraw, but this has been rejected by the Europeans.
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