EU Plan For Special Iran Payment Channel Sign Of 'Clear Defiance' Toward US - EU Lawmaker

The EU plan to set up a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to facilitate trade with Iran bypassing US sanctions is a sign of clear defiance toward Washington, Marco Zanni, a member of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with Iran, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2018) The EU plan to set up a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to facilitate trade with Iran bypassing US sanctions is a sign of clear defiance toward Washington, Marco Zanni, a member of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with Iran, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced on Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would establish the SPV to facilitate trade with Iran. US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday that the United States would be "watching the development of this structure" and stressed that Washington would not allow "Europe or anybody else" to evade its sanctions.

"The decision to create a new payment mechanism to allow countries to transact with Iran is a clear act of political defiance towards Trump administration. In this case, the shift of the EU stance in relation with the US is driven by the large amount of orders already placed to European companies by Iran," Zanni, a member of Italy's Lega party, said.

The move could help "internationalize the euro," although that would be difficult given "the uncompleted structure of the Eurozone and its asymmetries," the lawmaker added.

Zanni said the tool would be helpful to European small and medium businesses that do not have a strong presence in the United States.

"If it works properly, I believe Iran could keep the nuclear deal alive," the member of the European Parliament said.

In May, the United States announced it was withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear agreement. The other participants of the deal, however, including Iran itself, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, remained committed to it. The United States is reintroducing its sanctions against Iran, including extraterritorial ones, in two stages: the first one was activated in August, while the second set of sanctions, concerning the sales of oil and related products, will be reimposed on November 4.