As hopes were continuing to decline gradually, in the middle of the past week something happened that changed the attitudes, and it was the implementation of "the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX)".
On Friday the 12th session of the Joint Commission of the JCPOA was held in Vienna with deputies of Iranian foreign ministers and Iranian and Group 1 + 4 political directors along with Helga Maria Schmid, Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) which was accompanied by tangible results and forward steps.
The Vienna statement outlined the progress of the talks, especially article 4, which emphasized the implementation of the European financial mechanism.
Part of this article reads that France, Germany and the United Kingdom informed participants that INSTEX had been made operational and available to all EU Member States and that the first transactions are being processed. Ongoing complementary cooperation with the Iranian corresponding entity (STFI), which has already been established, will speed up. They confirmed that some EU Member States were in the process of joining INSTEX as shareholders, the special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate business with Iran. They are also working to open INSTEX to economic operators from third countries.
China and Russia, as two members of the nuclear deal, are at the forefront of joining the Financial Channel and have so far performed far better than Europeans in fulfilling their commitments. Therefore, the Iranian authorities have repeatedly referred to Moscow and Beijing's constructive cooperation with Tehran.
In this regard, "Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif" recently stated that "In international relations, it is unreasonable to know any country as our absolute friend, but the behavior of China and Russia after the departure of America of the JCPOA, cannot be compared to Europe.
China has always been one of the opponents of American anti-Iran sanctions, and Beijing officials have repeatedly stressed that they will not follow the unilateral sanctions against Iran that the stance of China's representative in the Joint Commission of the JCPOA "Fu Kang" can be assessed in this regard.
On Friday, the Chinese representative said at the Joint Commission of the JCPOA that Beijing does not accept US' policy of zeroing Iran's oil exports, saying, "We are not following the United States' unilateral sanctions on Iran; energy security is important to us."
Moscow officials also have a similar view of Beijing, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday after the end of the commission meeting that his country wanted to join the INSTEX to engage in financial interactions with Iran.
Mikhail Oliyanov, the representative of Russia at international organizations in Vienna, had a different perspective on the achievements and outcomes of the meeting. "Today's Joint Meeting in Vienna can be described as somewhat satisfactory," he wrote in a Twitter message. “There was no progress, but certainly not a failure. All the participants emphasized on their full commitment despite the problems."
On the other hand, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi evaluated the joint commission meeting as one step forward and announced the operation of two of three items of economic exchanges Under the name of INSTEX, but he believes that the steps of the Brussels leaders are inadequate.
One of the most important areas where the parties to the nuclear deal are expected to prove their goodwill is the field of oil and energy. Iran, despite being a member of OPEC and having major reserves of oil and gas in the world, is prohibited from engaging in the energy market due to US sanctions. This is despite the fact that Tehran has consistently proved its commitment to the JCPOA and to the IAEA and its members in recent years.
Experts believe that Tehran's move to set aside its strategic patience and reducing step by step of commitments in the JCPOA has forced European leaders to enforce part of their commitments.
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