Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Ali Larijani added that “in their confrontation with the US, Europeans wanted to demonstrate how much weight their authority holds, and how much presence they can have in [decision-making on] international issues.”
This case is where we can measure the extent of Europe’s sway, he added.
Larijani went on to note, “we should not make a positive or negative assessment of the mechanism yet. We need to judge these measures when they are put into effect.”
France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Thursday issued a joint statement on the creation of INSTEX (Instrument for Supporting Trade Exchanges), a Special Purpose Vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate trade between European economic operators and Iran, in a bid to bypass the US sanctions and convince Iran to remain in the nuclear deal following the US unilateral withdrawal from the agreement.
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