The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said that the European Union (EU)-initiated payment system did not work because its operation was under the influence of US sanctions.
The system, known also as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), is a mechanism set up by France, Germany and the UK in January 2019 to facilitate trade with Iran by skirting the US anti-Tehran sanctions, reports Xinhua news agency.
The INSTEX channel was basically designed to save the Iranian nuclear deal, internationally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), after the US pullout in 2018, the CBI said in its Twitter account on Sunday.
But the mechanism failed to work because Europeans did not have the courage to exercise their national and independent economic power, the Bank added.
The European countries found no way to finance the INSTEX channel either, it added.
The CBI statement came after Germany on Saturday blamed Iran for the failure of the EU-initiated payment system.