(Reuters) – Initial steps to implement the Instex trade mechanism are positive but not sufficient, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani told French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, according to Press TV.
France, Germany and Britain exported medical goods to Iran in the first transaction conducted under Instex, a trade mechanism set up to barter humanitarian goods and food after the U.S. withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal, Germany said last week.
The European trade vehicle was conceived as a way to help match Iranian oil and gas exports against purchases of EU goods. However, those ambitions have been toned down, with diplomats saying that, realistically, it will be used only for smaller trade, for example of humanitarian products or food.
(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh, Editing by Franklin Paul)
