Europe’s effective measures to compensate for the suspension of Iranian banks’ access to the SWIFT financial messaging system will prove its determination to protect Tehran’s interests in the face of US sanctions, a lawmaker said.
The Belgium-based financial messaging service said on Monday it is suspending some unspecified Iranian banks’ access to its messaging system “in the interest of the stability and integrity of the global financial system”.
Although its statement made no mention of the United States’ renewed sanctions on Tehran, the move is widely believed to be made under US pressure.
“If Europeans fail to take serious and practical measures in this regard, it will turn out that the regulations [to shield Iran from the impact of US sanctions] are not effective and cannot offer a sufficient guarantee for the implementation of JCPOA,” a lawmaker says
In May, the US abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and imposed sanctions against Tehran and potentially countries that continue to do business with Iran.
Other parties, with the European Union at the forefront, remained in the pact, pledging to do all in their power to keep the deal alive by safeguarding Iran's interests.
“Making up for the denial of Iran’s access to SWIFT will be an instance of [efforts aimed at] resisting the extraterritorial impacts of US sanctions by European countries,” Qasem Jasemi, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told ICANA.
Required Steps
SWIFT’s refusal to mention US measures is most likely an attempt to escape the predicament of complying either with US sanctions to prevent its penalties or with the European Blocking Statute that bars it from doing so.
The activation of the statute was an initial measure by the European Union to maintain commercial ties with Iran.
Jasemi noted that the effectiveness of the regulations will now be put to the test.
“If Europeans fail to take serious and practical measures in this regard, it will turn out that the regulations are not effective and cannot offer a sufficient guarantee for the implementation of JCPOA,” he said.
Besides, by exerting pressure on SWIFT, he added, the US is trying to disrupt the economic operations of foreign investors and companies in Iran after several European countries such as France announced they would defend those firms against secondary US sanctions.
“Now is the time that the proposal to replace a special financial mechanism to neutralize the US sanctions … must become operational.”
The proposed European mechanism, which aims to keep trade with Iran flowing despite US measures, is expected to become operational by early 2019.
Alireza Ebrahimi, another parliamentarian, also stressed that keeping Iranian financial channels open is a requirement of JCPOA, therefore the suspension of Iranian banks’ access to SWIFT needs to be offset.
“[SWIFT] must not be politicized because in that case, countries will no longer respect the platforms for international transactions,” he said.
