No EU member state is willing to host the so-called Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to safeguard Brussels' trade ties with Tehran from Washington's anti-Iranian sanctions, according to The Financial Times.
"No EU government wants to cross the US by having the SPV. Member states are not exactly queueing up for it," the newspaper quoted EU diplomats as saying on condition of anonymity.
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They added that the EU countries are concerned about incurring possible political punishment from Washington or additional sanctions over Brussels' push for creating the SPV.
The diplomats also stressed that defying the US "could yet yield a result before the latest sanctions are restored or shortly after," something that they said may, in particular, help Iran to continue its oil exports.
Their remarks came after the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the SPV could be finalized "before November" but set no formal deadline.
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for his part, slammed the mechanism as "one of the most counterproductive measures imaginable for regional global peace and security."
Late last week, Mehr News quoted Iran' Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati as saying that the EU will soon establish a special payments channel to ease trade transactions with Iran and allow exporters to receive their foreign exchange earnings through it.
The US exit from the JCPOA was announced by President Donald Trump on May 8, when he also pledged to reinstate economic sanctions on Iran and all those companies which will continue to cooperate with the Islamic Republic.
With the sanctions already in place, the next round of Washington's restrictive measures related to Iran's oil and banking sector is due on November 5.
