Page 6 - IRANRptAug19

coalitions and the presence of foreigners in the region by itself creates insecurity,” he said. “And other than increasing insecurity it will not achieve anything else.”
European leaders have broadly welcomed the Hunt plan. The UK envisages a multinational maritime operation that could also include countries in the Gulf region. The UK government faces pressure to protect half a trillion dollars of energy shipments that pass through the Strait of Hormuz each year. Johnson’s allies appear to be willing to continue Britain’s support for the Iran nuclear deal, but see no need for America to be excluded from plans for a maritime security patrols through the Gulf, the Guardian reported.
The newspaper also said that British shipping executives reported the cost of war insurance for shipping going through the Strait of Hormuz was soaring, with the price for a voyage through the strait for a very large crude carrier (VLCC), the most common supertanker in the range of 200,000 to 400,000 tonnes, was set to rise by about $500,000.
The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, insisted Johnson needed to understand Tehran is not seeking confrontation. “Iran wants to have normal relations based on mutual respect,” he said.
2.2 Russia indicates in may join EU’s Instex mechanism for trade with Iran
Russia has indicated it may be willing to process trade with Iran through the EU’s “Instex” payment mechanism devised to protect companies that wish to continue trading with the Islamic Republic from US secondary sanctions. However, it has called on Brussels to expand the mechanism to cover oil exports, according to the Financial Times .
If such a move was made, the US would almost certainly attempt to attack Instex (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges) as the number one aim of Washington’s attempt to throttle the Iranian economy to secure concessions on Iran’s nuclear programme and Middle East policy is to drive all Iranian oil exports off world markets.
Iran has complained that the remaining major power signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal—the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China—have done little to help protect its trade and economy from US sanctions, while it has expressed disappointment that Instex has not yet been formulated to enable trade in items which are on the US sanctions list. Its first trades are likely to be limited to non-sanctionable humanitarian goods.
So frustrated has Iran become at the lack of forthcoming economic assistance, particularly where the EU's major powers are concerned, that it has started edging towards the nuclear deal exit door.
Moscow’s involvement in the channel would mark a significant step forward in attempts by the EU and Russia to rescue the nuclear deal, now in danger of unravelling fast following the Trump administration’s unilateral abandonment of it in May last year.
“Russia is interested in close coordination with the European Union on Instex,”
6 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com