Europe sends medical supplies to Iran in a test of the trade mechanism
Germany said today, Tuesday, that France, Germany and Britain exported medical supplies to Iran, in the first commercial process to be carried out according to a trade mechanism established to barter humanitarian goods and food after the United States withdrew from a nuclear agreement concluded in 2015.
The German Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the medical goods have now arrived in Iran, adding that the Institution of Trade and Instance and its Iranian counterpart will now work on conducting more commercial operations and improving the system.
A source in the ministry said that it is a shipment of medical goods from a European export destination, adding that they are unable to provide details of their nature due to the confidentiality clauses contained in the contract.
The source pointed out that the deal is a separate step from an initiative taken by Britain, Germany and France earlier this month to help Iran fight the Coronavirus, which included an urgent shipment of medical materials, including equipment for testing, laboratory testing, protection vests and gloves.
Washington's European allies opposed US President Donald Trump's decision in 2018 to withdraw from the nuclear deal, under which international sanctions on Iran were lifted in exchange for Tehran accepting restrictions on its nuclear program.
The European trade mechanism has been set up as a way to buy Iran's oil and gas exports for European Union goods. But the ceiling of these aspirations has fallen as diplomats say this mechanism will, in fact, be used only for trade on a narrower area, for example in human products or food.
The three European powers involved in the Institution of Trade Exchanges (Instex) hope that other countries will join them later.
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