Politics
08:56, 16-Jul-2018
US rejects EU plea for exemptions over Iran sanctions
Updated
08:53, 19-Jul-2018
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Washington recently rejected a high-level European plea to grant exemptions to European companies, which could keep the Iran nuclear deal alive.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a letter to the European nations that the US' rejection came out of the maximum pressure it hopes to exert against Iran. He said exemptions would only be made if they benefited national security of the United States.
"We will seek to provide unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who also signed the letter, was quoted by NBC news as saying.
Then US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks with Hossein Fereydoun (C), the brother of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) at the Austria Center in Vienna, Austria, July 14, 2015. /VCG Photo
Then US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks with Hossein Fereydoun (C), the brother of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (R) at the Austria Center in Vienna, Austria, July 14, 2015. /VCG Photo
It added that the US is "not in a position to make exceptions to this policy except in very specific circumstances".
According to BBC, the European Union (EU) fears that billions of US dollars' worth of trade could be jeopardized as a result of Washington's new sanctions.
The strict sanctions were imposed in May after President Donald Trump announced US' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). The deal was the culmination of a decade of talks aimed at reining in Iran’s nuclear program, and was welcomed as a historic move by its signatories.
The US withdrawal was followed by President Trump's decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran.