Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

11/5/18

'Middle East: Stay tuned' for EU response to US sanctions on Iran

 The EU has said observers should “stay tuned” in relation to how it will react to the Trump administration’s decision to reimpose sanctions against Iran.

A European Commission spokesperson refused to comment saying “There are many different issues, I would not like to advance considerations etc. before events unfold.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini issued a public statement last Friday saying the EU ‘regretted’ the decision by the US to reinstate the full panoply of sanctions removed from Iran in 2015, when the Iran nuclear deal was first entered in to.

At the daily press briefing in Brussels today, the spokesperson said “I won’t go in to further details”

“Doesn’t make sense for us to go further”, but “this is a stay tuned moment.”

The EU is working on the creation of a” special purpose vehicle” designed to facilitate legitimate trade between companies within the EU who wish to continuing trading with Iran.

Details of this are unclear, but those close to the talks say the terms of the alternate payment mechanism remain incomplete.

EU - Iran trade has tripled the three years since the removal of sanctions in 2015, from around €7 billion to over €21 billion.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully the EU Commission will not blink and in this particular case work closely with China and Russia.

Read more: 'Stay tuned' for EU response to US sanctions on Iran | Euronews

No comments: