EU could compensate firms hit by U.S. sanctions over Iran: French minister
ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency
Mon / 21 May 2018 / 11:00Tehran (ISNA) - France is looking to see if the European Union could compensate European companies that might face U.S. sanctions for doing business with Iran, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
Le Maire referred to EU rules dating back to 1996 which he said could allow the EU to intervene to protect European firms against any sanctions imposed by the United States, adding that France wanted the EU to toughen its stance in this area.
In 1996, when the United States tried to penalize foreign companies trading with Cuba, the EU forced Washington to back down by threatening retaliatory sanctions.
European companies conducting business in Iran face U.S. sanctions after President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Reuters reported.
"Are we going to allow the United States to be the economic policeman of the world? The answer is no," Le Maire told C News TV and Europe 1 radio on Sunday.
The 2015 agreement, worked out by the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China and Iran, lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.
The other signatories have indicated that they hope to salvage the nuclear deal.
Total will pull out of a multibillion-dollar gas project in Iran if it cannot secure a waiver from U.S. sanctions, the French energy company said last week.
"Total will not continue the SP11 (South Pars 11) project and will have to unwind all related operations before 4 November 2018, unless Total is granted a specific project waiver by U.S. authorities with the support of the French and European authorities," the French oil and gas major said in a statement.
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