Austria’s ambassador to Tehran, Stefan Scholz, has rejected claims by some media outlets that Austrian lender Oberbank has cancelled a €1bn credit line to Tehran, Islamic Republic News Agency reported on March 31.

Looking to thwart damage that could be caused by the rumours after the start of official trading in Iran on April 3 following the Persian New Year holiday break, Scholz noted that Oberbank was one of the first Western banks to sign a deal to provide finance for projects in Iran and that he wanted to clarify that the deal is “on hold”.

The delay was made necessary by uncertainties over the future of the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that needed to be resolved, Scholz said, without directly referring to US President Donald Trump’s May 12 JCPOA deadline, after which Trump is expected to say whether he is pulling the US out of the multilateral agreement.

“I can assure you that there has been no policy change on the Austrian side regarding working together with Iran to the benefit of JCPOA implementation,” Scholz said.

“Let me be clear, there is no reason to be overly pessimistic: from the mountain of MoUs, there are several pan-European high-profile projects that have entered the implementation phase or are close to it.”

Oberbank, Austria’s seventh largest bank, which has a regional focus and limited exposure to the US financial system, signed an agreement to extend the €1bn line of credit to Iran in September 2017. The deal was announced to much fanfare after negotiations with representatives of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

Oberbank CEO Franz Gasselberger told Reuters prior to the signing: “I think we are the first European bank [to reach such an agreement with Iran].” Some German and Italian banks were apparently negotiating their deals while a Danish bank was also in talks to offer to finance to Iranian ventures, he added. Denmark’s Danske Bank said in January it was negotiating with the CBI for a line of credit deal.

If it pushes ahead, Oberbank will set out to work with low-risk projects in Iran through 14 local lenders. They are Parsian Bank, Bank Keshavarzi (Agriculture Bank), Eghtesad Novin Bank, Export Development Bank of Iran, Middle East Bank, Sepah Bank, Bank of Industry and Mine, Bank Melli Iran, Tejarat Bank, Bank Mellat, Bank Refah, Saman Bank and Karafarin Bank.