European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has said that INSTEX, a special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating legitimate trade between European economic operators and Iran, has become operational and is processing the first transactions.

“On Friday we also gave an important announcement on the defense of the nuclear deal with Iran: the instrument to support legitimate trade exchanges with Iran (called INSTEX) has become operational and is processing the first transactions. Together with the three countries that set it up – France, Germany and the UK – another seven European countries will join the mechanism. On Friday we also gathered the Joint Commission that works to guarantee the deal’s implementation,” she said in an announcement published on her website on Sunday.

On Friday, the remaining signatories of the nuclear agreement met in the Austrian capital as a last-ditch effort to save the accord after the U.S. withdrew last year.

They announced in a statement that the European Union mechanism for trade with Iran is up and running.

After the talks, Abbas Araqchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, said progress has been made to save the nuclear deal but the demands of the Islamic Republic are yet to be met.

"It was a step forward, but it is still not enough and not meeting Iran’s expectations," Abbas Araqchi told reporters in Vienna after almost four hours of talks with senior diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

Referring to Iran's decision to go over the deal's core atomic restrictions, Araqchi said, "The decision to reduce our commitments has already been made in Iran and we continue on that process unless our expectations are met."

"I don’t think the progress made today will be enough to stop our process but the decision will be made in Tehran," Press TV quoted him as saying.

Araqchi said, "For INSTEX to be useful for Iran, Europeans need to buy oil or consider credit lines for this mechanism otherwise INSTEX is not like they or us expect." 

NA/PA