Europe’s Lack of Will Behind INSTEX Failure

A senior diplomat hit back at the shareholders of INSTEX, a mechanism the EU had devised for trade with Iran, for blaming Iran for the liquidation of the system, saying Europe is trying to cover up its dismal failure in financial independence from the US.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani on Friday answered a question about the decision made by the 10 European shareholders of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges to dissolve the system.
The European countries said on Thursday they have decided to dissolve INSTEX that was conceived in 2019 to enable trade with Iran and protect companies doing business with it from the US sanctions, which were reimposed after the US exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“After the US unilateral and illegal withdrawal from the JCPOA, the European governments had committed to adopt the necessary solutions to fulfill the continued economic benefits of Iran from the removal of sanctions under the JCPOA. One of the mechanisms that the Europeans themselves had proposed to meet that commitment was the establishment of INSTEX as a financial channel facilitating trade between Iran and Europe,” Kanaani said, Tasnim News Agency reported.
He underlined that while Iran had never pinned its hopes or relied on the INSTEX, it had spared no effort to cooperate for the function of that mechanism with goodwill. 
“However, the European governments sadly failed to operate the INSTEX effectively in addition to their inaction in relation to their other commitments, and refused to take the necessary measures to activate it [INSTEX] within the framework of Europe’s commitments under the JCPOA.”
He noted that the main reason behind the failure of the INSTEX was the European governments’ lack of serious determination and their inability to honor their commitments to make up for the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA.
Denouncing the Europeans for obeying the US illegal sanctions against Iran, Kanaani said the EU states failed to inject any financial sources or long-term lines of credit into the INSTEX during the whole years that the channel was in service.
Reiterating that Iran had never counted upon the INSTEX and has conducted its international trade transactions via other financial and international banking channels, the spokesman censured the Europeans’ move to put the blame on Iran in the statement announcing the liquidation of INSTEX as a futile attempt to whitewash their dismal failure in showing the minimum degree of ability to maintain their financial independence from the US.
The German and French foreign ministries said on Thursday that the 10 shareholders of INSTEX (Belgium, Germany, Finland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK) concluded that there was no basis to keep it going. They also blamed Iran for refusing to work with the institution.