In a Saturday post on his Instagram, Abdolnasser Hemmati said that the reason behind the establishment of a payment channel between Iran and Europe is based on the common understanding that companies on both sides are willing to continue trading despite the US move to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
US President Donald Trump in May withdrew from the nuclear agreement signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama, and said he would reimpose economic penalties eased under that 2015 accord.
Britain, France and Germany are trying to keep some financial channels open to Iran after the United States unilaterally abandoned the historic agreement, Financial Tribune reported.
Noting that the EU-Iran payment channel amounts to a sort of bilateral currency swap, Hemmati said the two sides are aware of the need to implement the payment agreement soon.
"It is expected that the details of the channel and the way it should be used would be finalized and notified soon," he wrote.
Reuters reported last week that the new European Union mechanism to facilitate payments for Iranian exports should be legally in place by Nov. 4, when the next phase of US sanctions hit, but will not be operational until early next year.
The mechanism, a so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV), is designed to circumvent the sanctions, under which Washington can cut off any bank that enables oil transactions with Iran.
The SPV, which could incorporate a barter system, aims to sidestep the US financial system by using an EU intermediary to handle trade with Iran. It could ensure, for example, that Iranian oil bought by Europeans could be paid for with EU goods and services.