The French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that the EU-promised payment system to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran under US sanctions should be established in the coming days.

Le Drian made the remarks on Wednesday, a day after it was reported a representative of Germany may become the head of the EU-promised Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to Iran to help the country circumvent US sanctions.

The SPV “should be implemented in the coming days”, Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

“It will work as a sort of clearing house that will allow in euros for Iran to benefit from some of its oil resources and at the same time buy essential products from the three main (European) partners,” Le Drian was quoted as saying.

In September 2018, following a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Russia and Iran announced that the European Union would establish a mechanism to ensure financial transactions with Iran after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and its decision to re-impose sanctions on Tehran.

Source: Agencies