Page 9 - IRANRptSep19

Iranians to illegally enter the EU by any means possible.
Estonian police were alerted to two suspicious men who were using a boat to cross the sizeable fast-moving Vasknarva river between the Russian and Estonian borders, Delfi.ee reported.
The two men, reportedly Iranian citizens born in 2001, were detained. Legal proceedings have begun, with both men in detention.
Russia’s visa-free policy offered to Iranians is being abused by citizens of the Islamic Republic that attempt to use cities in western Russia like St Petersburg as a springboard into the European Union.
Southern routes into Europe for migrants and refugees have become increasingly difficult to tackle. Northern countries in Europe have only seen a small number of Iranians and some citizens of Central Asian countries attempting to claim asylum in Europe in recent years.
2.6 France reportedly offers Iran $15bn Instex credit line for sanctions-protected trade
France has reportedly proposed providing Iran with a $15bn credit line that would oil the wheels of the EU’s Instex (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) channel for Iranian and European companies looking to trade with each other without incurring US sanctions.
The offer was reported by Al-Monitor on August 7.
“According to three sources, in his conversation with [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani, [French President Emmanuel Macron] brought up the issue of establishing a $15 billion credit line for Tehran as a way around US sanctions, in an effort to meet Iran’s demands,” the report said.
Iran was yet to respond to the proposal, it added.
Instex, to Iran’s frustration, has been slow in going operational and is so far thought to have only performed some initial processing of transactions that would, anyway, not trigger US sanctions as they involve goods not on Washington’s sanctions list.
Iran wants its oil to be used in barter arrangements conducted via Instex, but Europe has been non-committal on that request to date.
In the meantime, Iran has been moving towards the exit door of the nuclear deal—the accord that is supposed to protect the Iranians from heavy sanctions in return for curbs that keep their nuclear programme purely civilian. It has of course failed to do that as the US unilaterally pulled out of the deal in May 2018. Subsequently, the Americans introduced the most punishing sanctions Iran has ever faced in a bid to secure a far tougher nuclear deal that would substantially alter Iran’s role in the Middle East. Europe’s major powers, says Iran, have done next to nothing to protect its economy and trade from the US sanctions. Tehran has given the UK, France and Germany—which, along with Iran, Russia and China, are the remaining signatories of the nuclear deal—one
9 IRAN Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com