At the recent meeting of the Joint Commission of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the participants agreed to form special task forces to work on countering the effects of American sanctions on Tehran.
The meeting was held in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday at the level of political directors and deputy foreign ministers of JCPOA parties.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who co-chaired the event along with Secretary-General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid, said the task forces would help carry out the parties’ commitments more completely, ISNA reported.
“It was agreed that within the JCPOA Sanctions Working Group established under the Joint Commission, subgroups be formed in the sectors of trade, energy, transport and financial and banking affairs so that other obligations can be fulfilled,” he said after the event on Wednesday.
The Joint Commission also reiterated that the lifting of sanctions allowing for the normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran constitutes an essential part of JCPOA.
The participants stressed their determination to support practical solutions for bypassing sanctions.
“They [the parties] will continue to intensify efforts to preserve the JCPOA, including bypassing sanctions, through specialized and focused expert discussions by setting up subgroups within the framework of the Sanctions Working Group,” the Joint Commission’s statement read.
INSTEX Talks
Under the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, but the United States’ unilateral exit last year and its reimposition of sanctions have challenged the accord.
The European Union has taken the lead to shield Iran against the sanctions by a number of measures, including the establishment of a financial mechanism, known as INSTEX (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) to facilitate trade with the country.
The instrument has been officially registered by France, Germany and Britain as initial shareholders, but has not become operational yet.
At the meeting, the EU pledged to continue the work to make this vehicle operational as soon as possible.
According to Araqchi, they provided details on how the payments will be carried out and how the system will later open to economic operators in third countries while Iranian participants gave explanations about the corresponding entity in Iran.
“They were fruitful discussions … although the Europeans acted with delay in this regard; we have the instrument now and hope it will start working soon,” he said.
Iran also reminded the deal’s signatories that the financial channel is only one of their obligations and that economic cooperation with Iran has various aspects that need to be secured.
“We believe that through JCPOA, we can find ways to counter the US sanctions, but the Iranian government is not relying on this and is reviewing all possible solutions,” Araqchi said.
