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The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) was a European
special-purpose vehicle A special-purpose entity (SPE), also called a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or a financial vehicle corporation (FVC), is a legal entity (usually a limited company of some type or, sometimes, a limited partnership) created to fulfill narrow, speci ...
(SPV) established on 31 January 2019 and liquidated in March 2023. Its stated mission was to facilitate non-
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and non-
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transactions with Iran to avoid breaking U.S. sanctions.


History

on , the initial announcement of INSTEX by France, Germany and the UK specified that the SPV would be headquartered in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and headed by Per Fischer, who formerly had served as Head of Financial Institutions at
Commerzbank The Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (shortly known as Commerzbank AG or Commerzbank ) is a European Financial institution, banking institution headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It offers services to private and entrepreneurial c ...
between 2003 and 2014. In Iran, INSTEX was mirrored by the STFI (Special Trade and Finance Instrument), a similar SPV. STFI matches incoming and outgoing transactions in the same way. In effect, two Iranian entities pay each other, thus, no money crosses the Iranian border.
Ali Khamenei Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third President of Iran, president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure ...
, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, commented by likening the European financial mechanism for trade with Iran to a "bitter joke". As of May 2019, the use of the SPV was limited to humanitarian purposes; such as the purchase of foods or medicines. INSTEX had been made available to all
EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often de ...
. On 11 February 2019, Russian deputy foreign minister
Sergei Ryabkov Sergei Alexeyevich Ryabkov (; born 8 July 1960) is a Russian diplomat, currently serving as the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation since 2008. Early life and education Ryabkov was born in Leningrad in 1960. At age 22, in 1982, he ...
stated that Russia would be interested in participating in INSTEX. On 28 June 2019, France, Germany and the United Kingdom told a meeting of the
JCPOA The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; (, BARJAM)), also known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear program in return for sanctions relief and other provisions. The agreement was finalize ...
Joint Commission that INSTEX had been made operational and available to all EU member states.
Federica Mogherini Federica Mogherini (; born 16 June 1973) is an Italian politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. A member of the Democratic ...
,
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stated that the purpose of INSTEX is to facilitate "legitimate trade" with Iran for any EU member and has been conceived to be open to non-EU countries. In addition to the three founders, five other EU nations declared in a joint statement on 29 November 2019 that they will join the INSTEX mechanism for trade with Iran: Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden. On 31 March 2020, over one year after the introduction of the platform, the first INSTEX transaction was concluded. It covered an import of medical equipment to combat the
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outbreak in Iran. European countries stated in March 2023 they had decided to end INSTEX, through which only a single transaction had traded. Academic Tim Beal described INSTEX as one among the responses to
United States sanctions United States government sanctions are financial and trade restrictions imposed against individuals, entities, and jurisdictions whose actions contradict U.S. foreign policy or national security goals. Financial sanctions are primarily administ ...
viewed by commentators as contributing to
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.


See also

*
Central Bank of Iran The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI; ; SWIFT Code: BMJIIRTH), also known as ''Bank Markazi'', was established under the Iranian Banking and Monetary Act in 1960. It serves as the banker to the Iranian government and has the e ...
*
Iran–European Union relations European Union–Iran relations are the bilateral relations between Iran and the European Union (EU). The EU is Iran's largest trading partner, along with China and the United Arab Emirates. Trade with Iran is subject to the general EU import reg ...
*
Sanctions against Iran There have been a number of international sanctions against Iran imposed by a number of countries, especially the United States, and international entities. Iran was the most sanctioned country in the world until it was surpassed by Russia, follo ...
*
Sanctions against Russia Sanctions, economic or international, that have been imposed on Russia include: * International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–) ** Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, US legislation (2017) ** International sanc ...
* Sanctions against Belarus


References

{{Authority control Companies based in Paris Financial services companies established in 2019 International organizations based in France Presidency of Hassan Rouhani Financial services companies disestablished in 2023 2023 disestablishments in France French companies established in 2019 Sanctions against Iran