UNITED NATIONS – The European Union said on Monday its members would setup a payment system to allow oil companies and businesses to continuetrading with Iran in a bid to evade sanctions after the US withdrew from anuclear agreement.
Iran and the European Union announced their defiance towards US PresidentDonald Trump’s administration after high-level talks at the United Nationsamong the remaining members of the accord.
The countries said in a statement that they were determined “to protect thefreedom of their economic operators to pursue legitimate business withIran.” With the United States and the dollar dominating so much of globaltrade, the statement said the new mechanism would “facilitate paymentsrelated to Iran’s exports (including oil) and imports, which will assistand reassure economic operators pursuing legitimate business with Iran.”
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, speaking at the United Nationsalongside Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the countrieswere still working out the technical details. “In practical terms, thiswill mean that EU member states will set up a legal entity to facilitatelegitimate financial transactions with Iran and this will allow Europeancompanies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance with European Unionlaw and could be open to other partners in the world,” she told reporters.
She said that the remaining members of the so-called Joint ComprehensivePlan of Action — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — would alsomaintain their commitments to support Iran on civilian nuclear energy.
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“The participants recalled that these initiatives are aimed at preservingthe JCPOA, which is in the international interest,” she said. In line withfindings of the UN inspectors, Mogherini reiterated that Iran has been incompliance with the nuclear agreement — under which Tehran drasticallyscaled back its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions.
The agreement was sealed in 2015 in a signature achievement for then USpresident Barack Obama. Trump pulled out of the agreement in May,describing it as a “disaster” and quickly moving to reimpose sanctions onIran. Despite the protests of the European Union, a number of businessincluding French energy giant Total and carmakers Peugeot and Renault aswell as Germany’s Siemens and Daimler have already suspended operations inIran for fear of triggering US sanctions.
With Iran’s economy already feeling the pinch, US national security adviserJohn Bolton earlier Monday vowed to impose “maximum pressure” on Tehran,while insisting that Washington was not pushing for regime change. US Araballies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as Israel havelong sought for Washington to work to curtail non-Arab and predominantlyShiite Muslim Iran’s influence in the Middle East, including in war-tornSyria. The EU move comes a day before Trump and Iranian President HassanRouhani separately address the UN General Assembly, with the US leaderexpected to take a hard line on Iran. – APP/AFP
