US Rejects European Call for Iran Sanctions Waiver
◢ Washington will not budge on its decision to impose fresh sanctions on corporations operating in Iran, despite a European request for exemption, the Financial Times reported Monday. "International companies active in Iran face the threat of US sanctions within weeks after Washington rebuffed a high-level European plea to exempt crucial industries to help keep a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran alive," the paper reported.
Washington will not budge on its decision to impose fresh sanctions on corporations operating in Iran, despite a European request for exemption, the Financial Times reported Monday.
"International companies active in Iran face the threat of US sanctions within weeks after Washington rebuffed a high-level European plea to exempt crucial industries to help keep a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran alive," the paper reported.
France, Britain, Germany and the European Union had on June 6 sent US President Donald Trump's administration a joint official request for their companies to be exempt from the fresh US sanctions on Iran.
The plea had come as European leaders scrambled to save the hard-fought deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015 under which Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear capacities in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions.
Trump announced he was abandoning the deal in May—paving the way for new sanctions on the Islamic republic and punitive measures for those who trade with it.
In a formal letter, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin refused to grant the European powers the waiver they had asked for, the Financial Times reported Monday, citing diplomats.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had already said the United States would not grant Europe its request.
"I wrote in the springtime to Steve Mnuchin... to ask him for an exemption for European companies legally working in Iran," Le Maire said according to an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro that was published Friday.
Failing an outright exemption, Le Maire had also asked for more time before the sanctions regime was due to kick in.
"We have just received the answer, and it's negative," he said.
Washington's refusal came as Trump called Europe a foe in trade and renewed accusations that the EU was taking advantage of the United States.
Analysts say European firms which have rushed to invest in Iran after the lifting of sanctions over the past three years have the most to lose from the renewed sanctions.
Photo Credit: Bruno Le Maire Twitter
France, Germany, Britain Formally Demand Exemptions from US Iran Sanctions
◢ France, Britain, Germany and the EU on Wednesday sent the United States a joint official request for their companies to be exempt from punitive measures resulting from fresh US sanctions on Iran. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said the three countries and the EU were asking the US "to exempt European businesses doing legitimate trade in Iran from all extraterritorial American sanctions.”
France, Britain, Germany and the EU on Wednesday sent the United States a joint official request for their companies to be exempt from punitive measures resulting from fresh US sanctions on Iran.
"As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests," said the letter to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said the three countries and the EU were asking the US "to exempt European businesses doing legitimate trade in Iran from all extraterritorial American sanctions."
"Those businesses must be able to pursue their activities," he wrote on Twitter.
The plea comes as European leaders scramble to save the hard-fought deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015 under which Tehran agreed to limits on its nuclear capacities in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions.
US President Donald Trump announced he was abandoning the deal last month—which will mean new sanctions on the Islamic republic and punitive measures
for those who trade with it.
Analysts say European firms which have rushed to invest in Iran after the lifting of sanctions over the past three years have the most to lose from the renewed sanctions.
Several major companies including France's Total and the Netherlands' Maersk have already said it will be impossible to stay in Iran once the sanctions are fully reimposed over the next six months, unless they receive explicit exemptions from Washington.
French automaker PSA said Monday that it would pull out of two joint ventures to sell its cars in Iran to avoid the risk of punishing fines.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
France Urges Europe to Act on 'Unacceptable' US Iran Sanctions
◢ France's economy minister Bruno Le Maire urged European nations Friday to defend themselves against US sanctions targeting foreign companies that trade with Iran, as the rift between Washington and its allies deepens. Le Maire said the European Union had to defend its "economic sovereignty" when it comes to the right to trade with Iran.
France's economy minister Bruno Le Maire urged European nations Friday to defend themselves against US sanctions targeting foreign companies that trade with Iran, as the rift between Washington and its allies deepens.
Le Maire said the European Union had to defend its "economic sovereignty" when it comes to the right to trade with Iran.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has meanwhile branded the sanctions "unacceptable", in some of the most forceful criticism yet from a key European ally.
US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was pulling out of the landmark 2015 deal curbing Iran's nuclear program, reintroducing sanctions on the Islamic republic and those who trade with it.
The decision overturned years of painstaking diplomacy and left EU allies scrambling to save the hard-fought deal, as well as to protect the interests of their companies which do business with Iran.
"We have to work among ourselves in Europe to defend our economic sovereignty," Le Maire told Europe 1 radio ahead of talks with Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra.
Le Maire said the EU would hold "collective discussions with the United States to obtain... different rules" covering European companies that do business with Iran.
"At the end of May I will meet with the British and German finance ministers and the three of us will look at what we can do."
Le Maire said he had called US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Wednesday urging him to allow exceptions for French companies or a delay in implementing the sanctions, while admitting he has "few illusions" about the likely response.
Washington has given European firms doing business in Iran up to six months to wind up investments or risk US sanctions, and they are also forbidden from signing any new contracts with the country.
Return of Sanctions 'Blocking'?
Le Maire pointed to the possibility of reinstating of EU "blocking regulations", dating back to 1996, which were used as a countermeasure against US sanctions that targeted third countries doing business with Cuba.
The system, which was never actually used, permitted European companies to ignore the US sanctions and said that any decisions by foreign courts based on the sanctions would not be upheld in Europe.
"We want to reinforce this regulation and incorporate the recent decisions
taken by the United States," Le Maire said.
"The second avenue is looking at Europe's financial independence—what can we do to give Europe more financial tools allowing it to be independent from the United States?"
Le Maire further noted that the US Treasury has an agency, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which tracks whether or not foreign companies are respecting its sanctions.
"Why don't we create the same type of agency in Europe, capable of following the activities of foreign companies and checking if they are respecting European decisions?" he said.
Le Drian had on Thursday insisted Washington needed to negotiate with its European allies on any sanctions that might affect their companies.
"We feel that the extraterritoriality of their sanction measures is unacceptable," he told Le Parisien newspaper, vowing that European countries would "do everything to protect the interests of their companies".
"The Europeans should not have to pay for the withdrawal of an agreement by the United States, to which they had themselves contributed."
Photo Credit: IRNA
