A German senior diplomat who had been designated to run INSTEX, a mechanism to allow trade with Iran despite US sanctions, will not assume the post, it emerged Friday.
Bernd Erbel, 71, has informed that he will not be available, Germany's top-selling newspaper Bild.
German's foreign office told Agence France Presse that Erbel will “not be available for personal reasons.”
Bild said Erbel's appointment was halted after it reported on controversial comments the ex-ambassador to Baghdad and Tehran had made in recent interviews.
The Associated Press said Erbel has pulled out of the job after reports he defended Tehran's ballistic missile program.
INSTEX was created by Germany, France and Britain to coordinate import and export payments so European companies can do business with Iran despite US pressure, and thereby convince Tehran to stick to the 2015 nuclear deal that limits its nuclear efforts.
However, INSTEX is not yet operational.
Berlin remains in talks with London and Paris on filling the post of INSTEX managing director, which needs confirmation from the institution's supervisory board.
According to AFP, Bild slammed "two scandalous appearances" in which Erbel had given long interviews to former public radio journalist Ken Jebsen, whom the tabloid-style paper accused of being "a conspiracy theorist and anti-Semite".
Erbel had said that Israel represents "a foreign body in the region" and had been founded "at the expense of another people that lost their homeland".
