US warns Europe: End business with Iran or face harsh sanctions
This stance was reported by US website Freebacon, quoting a number of senior US officials that Washington and many in Congress have been working in tandem to pressure European partners over their ongoing financial ties to Iran ahead of efforts by the United States to fully reinstate harsh sanctions on Iran, including on its lucrative oil sector and banking systems.
Key European partners have expressed opposition to the new US sanctions in recent months and have held a series of meetings with senior Iranian officials to discuss tactics for evading the new American sanctions, which follow on the heels of President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the landmark nuclear deal.
Trump administration and its allies in Congress are continuing work to further “choke the Iranian economy” while Iranian protesters continue to demonstrate against the hardline regime for its spending on foreign interventionism in hotspots such as Syria and its continued support for international terror groups.
Tension in the region with the imminent of reinstating of the harsh US sanctions on Iran, now heightened with the Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz and threaten maritime traffic in the Arabian Gulf.
Senior US officials leading the efforts to pressure European partners over their business ties with Iran told the Free Beacon that the Trump administration will not hesitate to sanction those who violate the new sanctions, warning that international banking institutions and even top US banks could be hit with sanctions for not complying.
“The Iranian regime has and continues to use terrorism as a weapon in Europe,” Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, told the Free Beacon. “We must be vigilant in finding out about their plans and stopping them before they succeed.”
Grenell and other top US diplomats “are urging our partners to help stop the flow of money to the Iranian regime because it is used to fund malign activities,” the ambassador said.
Ten US Senators who opposed the Nuclear Deal with Iran in 2015, recently wrote to the EU3 (Britain, Germany, and France) warning them to comply with all the new US sanctions.
As these European countries work to preserve the nuclear deal and keep business with Iran open, the Senators served notice to these countries that they will not be kept ummune from new US sanctions.
A full range of US sanctions on Iran are expected to be reinstated by for most sectors on August 6 for most sectors, and the energy sector on November 4.
Britain, France, Germany including China, Russia and the EU are in favor of the Nuclear deal which was approved by former US administration headed by president Barak Obama, from which President Trump pulled out t, describing it as “The worst deal negotiated by the United States.”
Al Arabiya
