Europe moves to protect its companies against US sanctions on Iran

On Friday, the European Union has announced measures that would enable it to avoid US sanctions on Iran or possibly block them. The measures are designed to avoid tens of billions of dollars in losses for European companies, which invested in Iran in the wake of the agreement, signed in 2015.

The European Commission stated, “The Blocking Statute forbids EU companies from complying with the extraterritorial effects of US sanctions, allows companies to recover damages arising from such sanctions from the person causing them, and nullifies the effect in the EU of any foreign court judgements based on them. The aim is to have the measure in force before 6 August 2018, when the first batch of US sanctions take effect.”

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stated on Sunday that his country was considering whether the EU could compensate European companies, which may face sanctions from the United States for their deals with Iran.

The European Commissioner for Energy, Miguel Arias Canetti, declared that the Commission has formed a committee to remove obstacles to investment in Iran, and reduce the drawbacks of the ban on foreign currency transfers, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), quoting Canetti during a joint press conference with Iranian Energy Minister, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh in Tehran, last Saturday evening.

Read: Iran says oil export drop not expected if EU saves nuclear deal