• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's answer to a media question in connection with annulment of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges with Iran

15 March 2023 12:10
474-15-03-2023

Question: What can you say about the reported annulment of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges with Iran (INSTEX)?

Maria Zakharova: The joint statement released by the United Kingdom, Germany and France on March 9 about the INSTEX shareholder countries' decision to eliminate this facility is disappointing. This has put an end to the efforts of the European participants in the JCPOA and the European Union to form an infrastructure for international settlements in order to conduct mutually beneficial cooperation and legitimate trade with Iran regardless of the illegitimate US sanctions.

INSTEX was seen by the international community as a practical way for the EU to implement its ambitious aspirations to gain genuine strategic autonomy and assume a place of its own in a polycentric world. Today, we have to state once again that the united Europe has once again failed the test of political independence and the ability to repel the illegitimate actions of the United States, which violated its obligations under the JCPOA and the UNSC Resolution 2231. Now, the EU is watching impotently as the United States continues its policy of maximum pressure on Iran.

I wouldn't want to think that the founders of INSTEX deliberately created inflated expectations and misled the business community, primarily in their own countries, which were interested in maintaining steady trade and economic ties with Tehran and needed protection against Washington's attacks. One can only guess about the actual reasons that prompted the founders and the shareholders of INSTEX to bury their offspring. Clearly, the commercial background is almost nonexistent here.

Looking back at the four years of INSTEX's existence, we come to the conclusion that the Europeans have, in fact, excelled in their key skill which is to build a bureaucratic machine, distribute offices and positions, and lay the foundations for the functioning of INSTEX. But, like many other things that they do, it looked good only on paper. This mechanism was unable to become fully operational. Their attempts to shift the blame to Iran sound ridiculous and are humiliating for those in Europe who were doing at least something constructive at a time when the United States was pursuing a policy of destruction.

Those who decided to terminate INSTEX did not have enough courage to acknowledge the fact that the European business and banking community did not believe in the ability of Brussels and INSTEX's shareholders to create a secure environment for cooperation with Tehran. That is why there was so much uncertainty concerning INSTEX's scope of activities, which, in the face of the American threats, was limited to humanitarian supplies, but was unable to accomplish even that. What happened with INSTEX is a very resonant red flag showing the European countries' inability to put up a serious fight for the JCPOA and international law in general, or to uphold the decisions approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2231.