Large European companies will not risk staying in Iran despite Brussels' plan to introduce a transaction vehicle helping evade US sanctions, Ladislas Poniatowski, a member of French Senate, told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2018) Large European companies will not risk staying in Iran despite Brussels' plan to introduce a transaction vehicle helping evade US sanctions, Ladislas Poniatowski, a member of French Senate, told Sputnik.
On Monday, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced that foreign ministers of the remaining signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) had agreed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that would facilitate trade transactions between European companies and Iran amid US sanctions against Tehran. US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday that the United States would be "watching the development of this structure" and stressed that Washington would not allow "Europe or anybody else" to evade its sanctions.
"No matter the decision taken by the EU, the big enterprises won't take the risk as they listen to the demands of the US regarding the sanctions. They can't take this risk because the part of the market Iran represents is tiny compared to their activities in the rest of the world ... I'm realistic, in terms of economy, I don't see how it could work. It could help the small and medium business ... But it's can't go further than that," the senator from The Republicans party said when asked to comment on the SPV plans.
Poniatowski explained that major French companies have already halted their deals with Tehran, citing the aviation and automobile industries as most affected by sanctions.
"It's true for Airbus, a big French-German group, they only delivered 3 planes out of 100 that had to be delivered. We saw that the small Franco-Italian company ATR delivered 6 planes out of 21, saying 'we comply with American sanctions, we won't deliver the rest.' It's also true for our two big automobile companies, Peugeot and Renault. They were selling 400,000 cars per year, and now they said 'we won't be selling a single one anymore.' It's true for all the big French and European enterprises," the lawmaker said.
After pulling out of of the Iran nuclear deal, the United States is now reintroducing its sanctions against Iran, including extraterritorial ones, in two stages. The first stage was activated in August, while the second set of sanctions, concerning the sales of oil and related products, will be reimposed on November 4. Other JCPOA signatories, including Iran itself, as well as EU states, China and Russia, have pledged to stick to the deal that restricts Iran's nuclear program.
