THE European Union will set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran in light of the U.S. withdrawal from the international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program and the re-imposition of sanctions, said EU’s foreign and security policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday.

The legal entity will allow European companies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance with EU law and could be open to other partners in the world, Mogherini told reporters at U.N. Headquarters in New York after she attended a meeting of foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia — the five remaining powers of the 2015 agreement after the withdrawal of Washington — and from Iran.

Mogherini said participants in Monday’s ministerial meeting were supportive of such a measure.

“The participants welcomed practical proposals to maintain and develop payment channels, notably the initiative to establish a special-purpose vehicle to facilitate payments related to Iran’s exports, including oil, and imports, which will assist and reassure economic operators pursuing legitimate business with Iran,” reads a joint statement of the foreign ministers.

(Xinhua)