MNA – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the EU's financial vehicle to ease trade with Iran, INSTEX, is now operational but Iran’s expectations have not been fully satisfied yet.







Making the remarks after a meeting with the remaining signatures of JCPOA in Vienna, Araghchi said that “we had a long and positive three-hour meeting, and we took a step forward but there is still a long way to reach Iran’s set targets.”

As he informed, two or three transactions have been done via INSTEX and further financial transactions will be done through the mechanism in a few days.

He added that other European countries have voiced readiness to start cooperation with Iran via INSTEX.

Araghchi also urged European countries to start purchasing Iranian oil via the trade mechanism.

On June 23, the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolanser Hemmati said that "INSTEX will not work miracles; monetary transactions should be done via it and for that Europeans should purchase our oil or open credit lines for Iran.”

“Europeans should buy oil from us as did Italy and Greece in the past or in other case, they can provide us with $10 million to $15 million credit lines in order to have monetary transactions take place in INSTEX to meet Iran’s needs under the US sanctions,” he said.

Iran has established a counterpart to INSTEX known as the STFI, which EU officials said will speed up cooperation with the European trade vehicle.

Iran's officials had reiterated that if INSTEX fails to meet Iran’s demands within the framework of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the country would take the next steps more decisively, explaining that after Iran set an ultimatum for the European signatories of the JCPOA, Europeans began some steps to expedite the implementation of INSTEX, but the steps were not enough for Iran, because the way of its implementation and its time frame is important to the country.

Iran’s next steps over JCPOA depend on the practical measures by the European countries, Iranian officials said.