FM: Pressures Not to Leave US Desired Impacts on Iran

“The Americans believe that they can lead Iran’s economy towards collapse through economic pressures but it is a void imagination,” Zarif was quoted as saying by Rapporteur of the Iranian parliament’s presiding board Behrouz Nemati in a meeting with lawmakers in Tehran on Tuesday.

Nemati referred to Zarif’s comments about talks with the European countries to decrease the pressure of sanctions on Iran, and said, “Europe has promised to resolve the issue of financial mechanisms on November 4 (the start of the US new sanctions) and of course, India, China and Russia have promised to cooperate in this regard.”

The European Union as one of the parties to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran has been trying to save the agreement after the US withdrawal.

A senior Iranian legislator announced earlier this month that the EU which favored good ties with Iran and maintenance of the 2015 nuclear deal would present a new package in the near future to confront the US sanctions against Tehran.

“The Europeans have almost reached a conclusion on what to do on November 4. Iran and Europe have made some decisions in this regard and some packages have been considered that will be announced before the start of the US sanctions against Iran on November 4,” Head of the parliament’s Nuclear Committee Mojtaba Zonnour said.

He referred to continued negotiations between Iran and Europe to protect the nuclear deal, and said “we, at the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, (have also) had a meeting with the envoys of a number of European countries” on this package.

Iranian officials announced in September that the new financial mechanism to be used by the European Union would be implemented by the EU in November.

“The Europeans have to establish the mechanism before November 4, when the new round of sanctions are to start,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi said.

He underlined that the EU’s special purpose vehicle (SPV) was intended for easing banking and trade transactions with Iran.

“Europeans are aware of our expectations that the SPV’s structure should be clear by then and at least some section of the mechanism should start working,” Araqchi said.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister reiterated that in fact November 4 has had an official aspect and a strange thing is not supposed to happen on this day.

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said last month that an SPV would facilitate trade with Iran and it would go into force before November.

The SPV aims to keep trade flowing even if possible US sanctions hit Tehran.

European diplomats have previously described the SPV proposal as a means to create a barter system, similar to one used by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, to exchange Iranian oil for European goods without money changing hands.