French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday that French companies will find it impossible to continue doing business with Iran after the US reimposes strict nuclear sanctions on the Mullahs’ Regime.

Le Maire told BFM television: “[These companies] won’t be able to stay because they need to be paid for the products they deliver to or build in Iran, and they cannot be paid because there is no sovereign and autonomous European financial institution [capable of shielding them].”

The reason being that US sanctions will affect not just US companies, but also any foreign firm trading with Iran that also does business with the US or in USD.

Experts have warned that it will be nearly impossible to protect multinationals from US sanctions, given that most large banks are exposed to the US financial system and dollar transactions.

The nuclear deal

The majority of wide-ranging nuclear sanctions imposed by the US will snap into place on November 4, but many non-nuclear sanctions have already been levied against Iran, while US sanctions against Iran’s auto and civil aviation industry will begin on August 6.

The sanctions come after US president pulled the US out of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal in May, citing security concerns and cheating by the Iranian Regime.

The European signatories to the deal have been trying to save the deal on their end to protect the business deals struck by their firms, who surged back to Iran once previous sanctions were lifted.

Le Maire said: “Our priority is to build independent, sovereign European financial institutions which would allow financing channels between French, Italian, German, Spanish and any other countries on the planet. It’s up to us Europeans to choose freely and with sovereign power who we want to do business with.”

Europe firms pull out

But it does not look like Europe will succeed, as many European firms have already pulled out of their deals with Iran, widely regarded as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, or have announced plans to end their deals by the deadline. This includes French oil group Total and French carmaker PSA.

It is good that Europe’s companies are withdrawing from Iran, as this means that less money will go towards the terrorist mullahs, but the European governments must do their part as well.

If Europe wants to trade with Iran, it shouldn’t be one run by the mullahs. Instead, the EU politicians should support the Iranian people’s call for regime change in Iran, something that will be the major theme of the Free Iran Gathering in Paris on June 30.

Then, Europe can trade with a free and democratic Iran, that does not support terrorism and war.

Source » ncr-iran