Europe dissolves Iran trade system that never took off

BERLIN (AP) — European countries say they have decided to dissolve a system that was conceived in 2019 to enable trade with Iran and protect companies doing business with it from U.S. sanctions, but only ever processed one transaction. The German and French foreign ministries said the 10 shareholders of INSTEX — Belgium, Germany, Finland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. — concluded that there was no basis to keep it going after Iran persistently refused to work with the institution. The decision comes at a time when tensions between the West and Iran have increased. However, Thursday’s statement said the decision to wind up INSTEX was taken for purely business reasons and independently of other factors.