EghtesadOnline: High-level meetings on Thursday and Friday in London were held to maintain and develop Iran-UK trade ties, and a major focus was on preserving humanitarian trade to Iran threatened by inconsistencies in US policies in administering unilateral sanctions.

EghtesadOnline: The trade channel between Iran and Switzerland, known as the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Agreement (SHTA), is expected to be more viable than its counterparts and function even after a possible change of government in United States next year, head of the Iran-Switzerland Joint Chamber of Commerce said.

EghtesadOnline: The United States and Switzerland formally launched a humanitarian trade channel on Thursday that will allow companies to trade food, medicine and other critical supplies with Iran.

EghtesadOnline: The Central Bank of Iran has made available $4 billion in foreign currency to importers of medicine and medical equipment in the last ten months.

EghtesadOnline: A senior South Korean diplomat, who has been engaged in talks with the United States over Iran sanctions, said Seoul is hopeful that humanitarian trade with Tehran will come back on track in the near future.

EghtesadOnline: President of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange (INSTEX) recently conferred with economic and business authorities in Tehran on ways to remove barriers to launching the long-awaited European trade mechanism.

EghtesadOnline: As the interbank messaging system SWIFT prepares to formally announce the names of Iranian banks that will be disconnected from its platform, it is not clear how the outside world intends to maintain humanitarian trade with Iran.

EghtesadOnline: US sanctions intended to squeeze an Iranian voluntary force may have consequences for humanitarian efforts in the country because of its targeting of a bank, lawyers and analysts say.