A group of European allies asked President Trump for exemptions to the U.S. sanctions aimed at isolating Iran’s economy in a newly-released letter to the administration.
“As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe’s security interests,” officials from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France wrote June 4. “[A]s close allies we expect that the extraterritorial effects of U.S. secondary sanctions will not be enforced on EU entities and individuals, and the United States will thus respect our political decision and the good faith of economic operators within EU legal territory.”
The letter, addressed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is the latest step in an international effort to keep the Iran deal in place despite the U.S. withdrawal. But the Europeans conceded that their companies won’t be able to do business with the Iranians if the U.S. takes an aggressive approach to punishing such deals.
“In their current state, U.S. secondary sanctions could prevent the European Union from continuing meaningful sanctions relief to Iran,” the officials wrote.
That’s the key to the Trump administration’s strategy.
“After our sanctions come in force, it will be battling to keep its economy alive,” Pompeo said during a recent speech at the Heritage Foundation. “We understand that our reimposition of sanctions and the coming pressure campaign on the Iranian regime will pose financial and economic difficulties for a number of our friends . . . But we will hold those doing prohibited business in Iran to account.”
European allies credit the agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with defusing an Iranian nuclear crisis. “We are still convinced that the JCPOA is the best means through which we can prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” the top European finance and diplomatic envoys wrote in the June 4 letter. “There appears to be no credible alternatives at this time. As such, an Iranian withdrawal from the JCPOA would further unsettle a region where additional conflicts would be disastrous.”
Pompeo believes, to the contrary, that the deal empowered the regime to finance military aggression against its neighbors and U.S. allies. “[T]he bet that the JCPOA would increase Middle East stability was a bad one for America, for Europe, for the Middle East, and indeed for the entire world,” he said in May. “It is clear that the JCPOA has not ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions, nor did it deter its quest for a regional hegemony. Iran’s leaders saw the deal as the starting gun for the march across the Middle East.”
With transatlantic allies at such an impasse, a refusal by the administration to grant the exemptions will contribute to European frustration that the U.S. is dictating their foreign policy.
“We have been clear with the U.S. in our intention to uphold the JCPOA, including through ensuring Iran continues to feel the benefit of sanctions relief,” a British government spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “This letter is part of our wider discussions with the U.S. on the need to make allowance for economic ties between Europe and Iran – including legitimate UK business — to ensure we can meet our obligations under the deal.”
