EU Tells Companies to Ignore U.S. Sanctions on Iran

Nick Kangadis | May 18, 2018
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Leave it to Socialist globalists to want to do business with a country that espouses death to other nations and an entire religion. It’s not that hard to comprehend Socialist’s love of everything deadly, considering how anti-Israel the European Union (EU) is.

On the heels of the U.S. leaving the Iran nuclear deal — and reimposing sanctions upon the world’s number one state sponsor of terror — the European Commission released a statement that told EU countries to basically keep going about your business with Iran in spite of the U.S. sanctions.

According to the statement by President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker:

The European Union is fully committed to the continued, full and effective implementation of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), so long as Iran also respects its obligations. The announcement by the United States that it is withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and its decision to reinstate sanctions has the potential to have a negative impact on European companies which have invested in Iran in good faith since the deal was signed. The lifting of nuclear-related sanctions is an essential part of the JCPOA. The European Union is committed to mitigating the impact of US sanctions on European businesses and taking steps to maintain the growth of trade and economic relations between the EU and Iran that began when sanctions were lifted. This can only be acheived by a combination of measures taken at national and European level.

In the statement, the EU announced that it has “launched the formal process to activate the Blocking Statute..."

“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 statement read.

Former president Barack Obama entered the deal with Iran and the EU in which Iran was set to recover $120 billion once the sanctions were lifted. And Iran basically had to do nothing in order to secure the deal, except make a false promise that they won’t engage in questionable weapons behavior.

“We continue doing exactly what we were doing before,” Iranian Atomic Energy spokesman Behruz Kamalvand said in 2015, according to the New York Post.

Of course the EU wants business to keep up with their Iranian dealings. Any business is good for a region that has seen some of their countries come close to - or even actually declare bankruptcy.

The Telegraph reported the following in February 2017:

Altogether there are five European nations whose debts are larger than their economic output, and 21 that have debts larger than the 60 per cent-of-GDP limit set out in the Maastricht Treaty.

Greece’s public debt is, unsurprisingly, the highest in the EU - standing at 177 per cent of its GDP. Italy and Portugal are the next most indebted countries, with debts of 132 per cent  and 129 per cent of national economic output respectively.

While essentially telling its member countries to ignore the U.S. sanctions on Iran, Juncker’s statement also implies that the EU knows where its bread is buttered.

“The European Union is also committed to maintaining the essential cooperation that exists with the United States in many areas,” the statement read. “The United States remains a key partner and ally.”

Sure we are. At the same time, the EU has no problem doing business with a country that chants “death to America” and burns the American flag in its parliament. You have to love the influence of U.S. foreign aid around the world. We’re an “ally” as long as the checks keep clearing.

H/T: Washington Examiner

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