A trio of European powers have set up an instrument “to preserve sanctions relief” for Iran in defiance of President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, top diplomats announced Thursday.
“We have taken a significant step forward in delivering our commitment under the Iran nuclear deal to preserve sanctions relief for the people of Iran,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said following a meeting of European diplomats.
The announcement drew swift rebukes from U.S. officials, as the European allies rebuffed American calls for intensified pressure on the Iranian regime. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany remain dedicated to the 2015 pact, in the belief that the deal defused an urgent nuclear crisis, while the Trump administration maintains it empowered the regime’s recent aggression in the region.
“This is a clear, practical demonstration that we remain firmly committed to the historic 2015 nuclear deal struck with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, for as long as Iran keeps implementing it fully,” Hunt said.
Iran hawks dubbed it a major display of weakness. “Our EU partners should focus on curbing Iran’s efforts to develop ICBMs, repress their citizens, take foreign hostages, and conduct assassination plots on European soil instead of succumbing to the regime’s nuclear extortion,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who led the congressional push for Trump to exit the deal.
The European maneuver is a long-awaited “special purpose vehicle,” known now as the “Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges.” It does little to protect multinational corporations that operate in the United States from the threat of sanctions, but it could allow smaller European companies to do business in Iran.
“To be clear, the SPV and any derivative of it will be an attractive illicit finance mechanism for corrupt international actors,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, emphasized in response to the announcement. “While the U.S. Treasury has thus far remained relatively unconcerned about the SPV, it retains every incentive to stigmatize any alternative payments system, particularly those that are seeking to keep the Islamic Republic a part of the international financial system.”
The Europeans, who pledged to prevent INSTEX from being manipulated by money launderers and terrorist financiers, hope the initiative will induce Iran to remain compliant with the nuclear deal.
“The Iran nuclear deal remains central to international efforts to halt nuclear proliferation and is crucial for the security of the region,” the top diplomats from the U.K., France, and Germany said in a joint statement. “But we are clear, this commitment does not in any way preclude us from addressing Iran’s hostile and destabilizing activities.”
