Britain, France and Germany have for the first time used a complex financial system that bypasses United States’ (US) sanctions to send medical aid to Iran, raising hopes of salvaging the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Telegraph reported.
The German Foreign Ministry said the medical goods were now in Iran and added that the Instex trade mechanism and its Iranian counterpart would now work on more transactions and on enhancing the system.
Britain, Germany and France had earlier offered a $5.5 million package to Iran to help fight coronavirus there and said they would also send medical material, including equipment for laboratory tests, protective body suits and gloves.
Washington’s major European allies opposed the decision by US President Donald Trump in 2018 to abandon the nuclear deal, under which international sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for Tehran accepting curbs on its nuclear programme.
The European trade vehicle was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods. However, those ambitions have been toned down, with diplomats saying that, realistically, it will be used only for smaller trade, for example of humanitarian products or food.
The three European powers are shareholders in the Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges, or Instex, and hope other states will join later.
