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European Investment Bank: No European bank can work in Iran

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

 

July 19, 2018 – On July 18, European Investment Bank president Werner Hoyer declared that investment in Iran would threaten the bank’s global operations and that despite efforts to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, there’s effectively little hope for European banks to operate in Iran.

“There is no European bank which is presently able to do business in and with Iran,” Hoyer told reporters.

 EIB is the European Union’s long-term investment arm and one of the largest multinational financial institutions in the world.

“We have to take note of the fact that we would risk the business model of the bank if we were active in Iran,” Hoyer said.

European banks and firms fear to fall afoul of U.S. sanctions against the Iranian regime.

Europe’s fears from secondary sanctions

U.S. President Donald Trump declared in May that his government would be exiting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the deal struck between the Iranian regime and world powers in 2015 is formally known, on grounds that the accord did not do enough to counter the evil of the Iranian regime. The decision would bring back sanctions against the Iranian regime for its nuclear program as well as its other nefarious activities, including its development of ballistic missile and its sponsorship of terrorism in the Middle East and across the world.

The U.S. later declared a set of 12 requirements that would lift sanctions from the Iranian regime and would help it reintegrate into the international community. Those requirements included not only permanent curbs on Iran’s nuclear program but also a wind-down of terrorist and missile development activities.

The U.S. will also be imposing secondary sanctions on all American and non-American entities that do business with the Iranian regime.

European parties to the deal have declared that they will maintain their commitments to the JCPOA and are negotiating with the Iranian regime to find a solution that would preserve the accord. But the Iranian regime’s authorities have not approved the recent package presented by European countries.

In an interview with Euronews, Javad Zarif, the Iranian regime’s foreign minister, asked the European Union to go further than words and take some concrete steps in the domains of finance, banking, investment, energy, and shipping.

EIB is worried that U.S. sanctions will discourage customers from purchasing its bonds.

Europe’s failed attempts at obtaining waivers from U.S. sanctions

In a letter to European leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin turned down requests for waivers from U.S. sanctions against entities that do business with the Iranian regime.

Writing to the foreign and finance ministers of U.K., France and Germany, Pompeo and Mnuchin declared that the U.S. is seeking to apply “unprecedented financial pressure” on the Iranian regime now that it has quit the JCPOA, and won’t relent until it sees a “tangible, demonstrable and sustained shift’’ in Iran’s policies.

In their letter, the Secretaries of State and Treasury stipulated that the nuclear accord “failed to guarantee the safety of the American people.” These measures are meant to isolate the Iranian regime and put a cap on its evil activities in the Middle East and Europe.

In recent days, U.S. authorities have been drawing attention to the terrorist threat of the Iranian regime after one of the regime’s diplomats was arrested in the course of a foiled terrorist plot against the Iranian opposition rally in Paris.

In a series of tweets, Pompeo warned the public opinion about the threats of the Iranian regime’s terrorist activities in Europe.

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