INSTEX can process Iran’s IMF loan, EU3 refusing to cooperate: MP

A senior Iranian parliamentarian says the three European powers who are member to an international nuclear deal with Iran are unwilling to use a proposed financial mechanism for processing Tehran’s loan request from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mojtaba Zonnouri said on Tuesday that Britain, France and Germany, collectively known as EU3, have been totally dishonest in their claims that the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) could serve Iran’s essential requirements at a time the country is grappling with unilateral US sanctions.

“This financial mechanism of Europe was a delusion and deceit from the very beginning and Europe has no intention to use it,” Zonnouri was quoted by the parliament’s new service ICANA.

The comments come as Iran has repeatedly criticized the EU3 for failing to stand against the United States and its pressure against Iran. Tehran believes the three countries have done almost nothing to enable Iran get round US sanctions despite their official position to condemn US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018.

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Zonnouri, who chairs the powerful parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, admitted that US pressure on the IMF has hampered Iran’s request for a $5-billion loan which the country needs to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

However, he implied that the loan could have been granted if the Europeans were genuine in their claims of support for Iran.

He said that INSTEX even failed to serve Iran’s most basic needs for drugs and medical equipment at a time the country needs them desperately to reach to patients affected by the coronavirus.

“INSTEX was supposed to become a secure financial channel which it didn’t and they (Europeans) eventually said that it would be suitable for food and medicine which we are seeing it did not get going even at this level,” said the lawmaker.

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