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Why Europe's payment channel may be too little to keep Iran in JCPOA

Iran is inching closer than ever to withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as it finds European steps toward maintaining the deal too little, too late — a perception exacerbated by more European non-nuclear sanctions.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini take part in meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Brussels, Belgium, May 15, 2018.  REUTERS/Yves Herman/Pool - RC16D13AE4C0

When President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May, Iran was expecting the European signatories to the deal to engage in serious efforts to uphold it. Indeed, on the very same day as the US withdrawal, President Hassan Rouhani announced in a televised speech his government's plans to launch intense, short-term negotiations with Europe to determine whether Iran should remain in the pact.

Eight months later, France, Germany and the UK issued a joint statement on the setting up of a transaction channel dubbed the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), meant to keep trade with Iran flowing. The mechanism, the so-called E3 announced, was to be based in Paris and managed by a former German banker, with a British-led board. But while formally registered, INSTEX is still far from being operational.

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