TEHRAN – Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has criticized the role of France in salvaging the 2015 nuclear accord, saying the European banking mechanism has remained on the paper and has not been made operational.

“Despite various talks, the French president’s promise to the Iranian president for preserving Barjam (nuclear deal) has not been met and it should be actually said that the INSTEX mechanism has remained on the paper,” Larijani said, according to the Mehr news agency.

European countries established INSTEX in January to help shield trade with Iran from U.S. sanctions imposed after President Donald Trump withdrew from the multinational nuclear deal in May 2018. 

On March 20, Iran’s central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati announced that a mechanism similar to INSTEX has been registered in Iran, officially called the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI).

MH/PA