The Europeans are falling over themselves to keep the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. That will be difficult with the reimposition of sanctions that took effect November 5—a number of major firms have pulled out of Iran—but they’re trying anyway.

Their idea is to set up an “alternative payment system” by which companies can avoid the U.S. financial system and still trade or barter with Iran. For weeks, various European nations played a game of “not it” over who would end up actually hosting the work-around system. Austria, once floated as a contender, gracefully rejected the honor. Nominated next: Luxembourg, which also had reservations. Now, France and Germany, after initially ruling themselves out as hosts, have agreed to team up to revive the payment channel effort despite the threat of U.S. penalties.