A European payment system designed to circumvent US sanctions on Iran will be ready soon, Germany announced yesterday.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Zarif in Tehran as part of European efforts to salvage the historic nuclear pact and defuse rising US-Iranian tension.
Iran and Germany held “frank and serious” talks on saving the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Zarif told a joint press conference.
“Tehran will co-operate with EU signatories of the deal to save it,” Zarif said.
Maas earlier said the payment system, known as Instex, will soon be ready to go after months of work.
“This is an instrument of a new kind so it’s not straightforward to operationalise it,” he said, pointing to the complexity of trying to install a totally new payment system.
“But all the formal requirements are in place now, and so I’m assuming we’ll be ready to use it in the foreseeable future,” added Mass about the system for barter-based trade with Iran.
A cautious thaw in relations between Tehran and Washington set in in 2015 when Iran struck a deal with six big powers limiting its nuclear activity.