US Warns EU Firms to Stay Away from Iran

Reuters, Daily Times:

The United States, determined to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons, is piling pressure on European firms to stop them doing business with Tehran, diplomats say. ...

“They’re being pressured by Washington. Major European companies are unwilling to deliver,” an EU diplomat said. “This means we really have no incentives to offer Iran at this point”. ...

In November, US ambassador Jackie Sanders told the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that selling even small items with potential military use would be punished.

“We want any proliferators, from multinational conglomerates to small exporters of dual-use machine tools, to understand that the US will impose economic burdens on them, and brand them as proliferators,” Sanders said.

The pressure seems to be working, diplomats say, by deterring European companies wary of damaging their business in the United States from trading with Iran. ...

“We were surprised by this,” one European diplomat said. But diplomats said European companies had also complained they had not been consulted before their governments promised Iran goods and equipment that they would be unable to provide.

“The politicians should have talked to industry before starting negotiations with Iran, not after,” one said. ...

“Iranian expectations are too high. We can’t order our companies to do business with Iran. All we can do is create a political atmosphere to build confidence,” an EU diplomat said. ...

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