The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has expressed doubts about the practicality of a decision by the US government to allow Switzerland to use Iranian finances to ship food and medicine into the country.
Abdolnasser Hemmati said on Monday that it remains to be seen whether the United States would really allow the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA) to function properly.
Hemmati said on his social media account that he was aware of a Thursday decision by the US department of treasury to issue a special license to finalize the SHTA.
However, he was skeptical about the genuineness of the move and whether Washington is really willing to allow humanitarian trade involving CBI funds.
“Apparently, the US government has issued the necessary waivers for the use of a part of Iran’s foreign currency reserves for supply of basic goods and medicine,” read part of Hemmati’s post on Instagram.
“One should see the job in action,” he said, adding, “The US government has up to now blocked the CBI reserves illegally and through pressuring countries.”
Iran has appreciated Switzerland’s efforts to secure a special channel for sanction-free trade with Tehran.
The Swiss initiative was launched on 30 January 2020 with a first trade for delivery of cancer and organ transplant drugs to Iran worth 2.3 million euros ($2.54m).
Reports suggested that the transaction was processed via Swiss lender Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) using credits belonging to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).
The aim of the SHTA is to ensure that exporters and trading companies in the food, pharmaceutical and medical sectors based in Switzerland have a secure payment channel with a Swiss bank through which payments for their exports to Iran are guaranteed, the Embassy of Switzerland in Iran said in a statement.