France: EU Plan to Enable Trade with Iran Will Have Broader Applications

France’s Foreign Ministry says a special European plan to enable trade with Iran, which is under American sanctions, can be used in other cases as well so that the union remains insulated from US laws.

Last month, Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, announced that the union’s new financial mechanism called “SPV” would be implemented from November to allow the union to continue commercial and financial dealings with Tehran despite Washington’s sanctions.

The original idea of this mechanism is for the European Union to neutralize America’s action of penalizing banks that continue to help transfer Iran’s oil revenues.

Until now, it seemed this mechanism would be solely directed at Iran, but France’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, October 17, in response to Reuters that the aim of this mechanism is not limited to Iran, but covers a broader scope.

Agnès Von Der Muehl, spokeswoman for France’s Foreign Ministry, stated: “According to European law, the new financial mechanism must facilitate financial transfers for companies that still want to maintain their commercial relations with Iran.”

She added: “Beyond all this, the aim of this mechanism is to provide a tool for the European Union’s financial independence. Therefore, it is a long-term plan that will protect European companies in the future against illegal extraterritorial sanctions.”

Reuters writes that many analysts and diplomats have expressed their doubts about the success of this mechanism because the United States can target the “SPV” itself by changing its own sanctions laws.

Gordon Sondland, the US Ambassador to the European Union, also said on Wednesday in this regard that the special mechanism of European countries to preserve the nuclear agreement with Iran will not be effective because international companies and commercial institutions will not cooperate with it.

Mr. Sondland said in an interview with “Euronews” that he disagrees with the European Union’s approach toward Iran and the union’s efforts to preserve the JCPOA.

Many European financial institutions and major companies such as Peugeot-Citroën, Daimler, Boeing, Airbus, Eni, Maersk, and the oil company “Total” have ended their activities in Iran for fear of American sanctions.

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, who withdrew America from the agreement of six world powers with Iran over its nuclear program on May 8, threatened in June this year that if European companies trade with Iran by ignoring this country’s sanctions, they will be subject to sanctions.

Washington re-enforced the first round of suspended sanctions against Tehran in mid-August this year. The US said that the second round of sanctions will be enforced on November 4 (November 25), aimed at reducing Iran’s oil exports to zero.

Source: Radio Farda