EU intensifies efforts to keep the JCPOA alive, while the US is intensifying pressures

Tabnak – While expressing political commitment to keep the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran alive, the European countries are yet to realize their promises on establishing a special measure for conducting trade and financial interactions with Iran. The European Union, however, reiterates its commitment to intensify efforts in this regard.

In this vein, the EU says it has stepped up efforts to preserve a 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran after the US reinstated sanctions on the Islamic Republic's vital oil-exporting and financial sectors.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Friday, Maja Kocijancic, EU spokeswoman for foreign affairs, said the bloc had increased its efforts towards the enactment of mechanisms, including a so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV), to bypass the US sanctions and discard the dollar in dealings with Iran.

“The efforts to preserve the Iran nuclear deal and economic and trade relations with Iran have intensified in recent weeks, especially those that are related to the setting up of the special purpose vehicle,” Kocijancic said. The special purpose vehicle the EU is developing is aimed at helping companies avoid the US sanctions and continue doing business with Iran.

Kocijancic referred to the “blocking statute, which was updated in August” as “one of the key measures” taken by the Europeans to facilitate trade with Tehran. A blocking statute is a law enacted in 1996 to protect European entities "against the effects of the extra-territorial application of legislation adopted by a third country."

The law went into effect on August 6, when the first set of US sanctions against Iran took effect. The statute would allow firms to recover damages from American measures and nullify any court ruling against them.

“This is one of the measures that have been put in place, but it’s the one that’s very relevant for companies because from our point of view, trade with Iran remains legitimate,” she said.

Against this backdrop, US State Department’s Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook is to visit Israel and the UAE to advance US President Donald Trump’s so-called Iran strategy and push for Washington’s hostile campaign against Tehran. “Hook will travel to Israel and the United Arab Emirates November 12-20,” a media note by the US State Department said Friday.

The State Department said “Hook’s trip aims to advance the president’s Iran strategy” and to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic. It also said that the “US is committed" to working with its "allies and partners to fully implement" what it referred to as Washington's "maximum pressure campaign” against Iran.

Hook’s planned visits to the occupied territories and Abu Dhabi come as the Israeli regime and Persian Gulf states have, in recent months, openly moved toward a rapprochement, especially by presenting Iran as their common enemy.