PHOTO: Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin. Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani says that Tehran will ‘get even’ with the United States without EU’s help.
On April 29, the Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati announced the establishment of the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI) similar to Europe’s Instrument for Trade and Exchanges (INSTEX), a mechanism European countries have set up to facilitate trade despite U.S. sanctions.
STFI was introduced after technical and expert negotiations between Iranian delegations and representatives from United Kingdom, France, and Germany took place. STFI has been devised to work in tandem with INSTEX, and is designed to facilitate limited trade with Iran. The newly established Iranian company has started its activity with one billion rials (about 24,000 USD) in capital.
Its European counterpart INSTEX was set up on January 31, 2019, following the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, also known as the “Iran nuclear deal”) in 2018 to help Tehran with limited trade despite U.S. sanctions.
However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini has repeatedly called INSTEX a “meaningless” measure and “a bitter joke”, adding that “Europeans should have stood up to the U.S. after it left the JCPOA and should have lifted all sanctions against Iran.”
The formal announcement of STFI’s establishment has been followed by another round of attacks by Iranian officials on the EU and what they describe as the “EU3 procrastination”.
On April 30, during a meeting with head of the Austria-Iran parliamentary friendship group Wolfgang Gerstl in Tehran, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani dismissed European leaders for “only supporting us in rhetoric or only expressing regret at America’s actions.”
Speaker Larijani noted that Europe has yet to fulfill the promises it made to Tehran to preserve the 2015 JCPOA after U.S. President Trump has walked away. “Back then, [Europeans] also said that they would come up with a clear mechanism for trade and oil in a few weeks but it has already been a year.” He said that the delay has “raised questions about EU’s credibility and it means that the EU lacks the weight to solve problems”.
Larijani expressed his dissatisfaction with the three EU countries that he stressed, “We do not need Europe’s help in getting back at Washington. We will get even with America.”
PHOTO: RFE/RL, Midhat Poturovic. European Union Foreign Policy Chief Frederica Mogherini
On April 30, 2019, the European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini announced today that over 22 million euros of additional humanitarian assistance will be provided in support of the most vulnerable people in Gaza and the West Bank.
The EU made this official announcement at a conference ahead of the extraordinary session of the International Donor Group for Palestine, the Ad Hoc liaison Committee (AHLC).
She said that AHLC is a “tool that was created because of the Oslo agreements to pave the way towards the creation of two states in the Holy Land with a Palestinian State living in peace alongside the State of Israel.”
However, she added, “25 years after that moment, the very possibility of two states is being dismantled. Settlement expansion continues while international mechanisms that protect the Palestinians in occupied territory are forcefully removed.”
Mogherini stressed that the “two-state solution remains the only realistic way forward”, and urged Palestinians and Israel to “resume dialogue in order to preserve and relaunch the Oslo framework.”
"Economic and fiscal agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including the Paris Protocol, must be implemented in full. A solution must be found to the current fiscal crisis in order to avoid a financial collapse that would have terrible consequences for the security of the region. The Palestinian economy needs resources to grow. We, as the European Union, are and stand ready to help the parties come back to dialogue based on their agreements."
She said that the European Union "is and will remain the biggest and the most reliable donor to the Palestinians" with more than €300 million every year for the last 15 years. "This support will continue, because Palestinians have the right to live in dignity and because we Europeans know very well that this money is an investment in security for the Palestinians, for the Israelis, for the region and for ourselves," she said.
PHOTO: Reuters. Japan's Emperor Akihito has declared his abdication in a historic ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
In his last public address as emperor, Akihito handed over the symbols of power and thanked the public for their support during his 30-year reign.
"I am deeply grateful for the people that accepted me as a symbol and supported me," he said.
"I sincerely wish, together with the empress, that the Reiwa era which begins tomorrow will be a stable and fruitful one," he added. "I pray, with all my heart, for peace and happiness for all the people in Japan and around the world."
The 85-year-old was given permission to abdicate after saying he felt unable to fulfil his role because of his age and declining health. He is the first Japanese monarch to stand down in more than 200 years.
His eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, formally ascends the throne later on Wednesday. A new era - called Reiwa, meaning order and harmony - will begin in Japan's unique calendar.
Prince Naruhito will become Japan's 126th emperor - and will officially lead the country into the new Reiwa era. It will mark the end of the current Heisei era, which began when Akihito ascended the throne in 1989. The 59-year-old Oxford University graduate is married to Crown Princess Masako. Their only child, Princess Aiko, was born in 2001.
Japan's current law prohibits women from inheriting the throne, so Princess Aiko's uncle Prince Fumihito is now first in line, followed by her cousin, 12-year-old Prince Hisahito.
The Golden Week break - Japan's annual spring holiday - has been extended to a record 10 days to mark the occasion.
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