US Sees No Demand From Major Companies for Mechanism to Trade With Iran – Hook

WARSAW (Sputnik) – The United States sees no corporate demand from any significant company to use the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), established by the European Union to continue trade with Iran in the face of US sanctions, US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told Sputnik on Thursday.

"Those [EU] countries have made it clear that the SPV will only be for legitimate uses. We do not see any corporate demand for the SPV. All nations of the world know that the United States will sanction any sanctionable behavior, so we do not anticipate companies making use of the SPV, because they don’t want to violate our sanctions … Name one significant company that wants to make use of the SPV," Hook said.

READ MORE: Europe's Vehicle For Iran Trade is Attempt to 'Break American Sanctions' — Pence

When asked if he thinks those who want to trade are insignificant, Hook said that "any company that has links to international financial system risks being sanctioned by the United States if they trade in sanctionable activity."

"So, we don’t see any corporate demand for this vehicle," he repeated.

In January, Germany, France and the United Kingdom have officially established the SPV to conduct transactions with Iran under the US sanctions, imposed after Washington's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA. The mechanism is expected to focus initially on the sectors most essential to the Iranian population — such as pharmaceutical, medical devices and agri-food goods.

The United States reinstated sanctions against Iran following the country's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the Iran nuclear agreement — in May. The first round of sanctions came into force in August, followed by a second round on November 5.

The sanctions target not only Iran's economy but also those individuals and entities who continue to do business with Iran.