U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell has welcomed German companies’ decision to comply with US sanctions and stop business with Iran. Washington warned firms that trade with Iran that they could face repercussions, Deutsche Welle reported.
The ambassador on Thursday said he was pleased with the actions of German companies that had stopped trading with Iran after fresh US sanctions were imposed on the country.
“We are very pleased that German businesses have decided to abide by the U.S. sanctions,” Grenell told the German news agency DPA in an interview.
“German business leaders have told us unequivocally that they will stop doing business with Iran and will abide by the US sanctions,” he said. “So we are very pleased that the actions of the German business community have been very clear.”
The U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil this month after US President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump claimed the deal was flawed because it did not include restrictions on the development of ballistic missiles or Iran’s support for militant groups in countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
Officials from the European Union and Iran have worked to create a new legal framework to protect companies that conduct business with Iran from U.S. sanctions.
Two rounds of U.S. sanctions, the first in August and a subsequent one this month — targeting a broad range of industries and individuals — have been introduced, posing a dilemma for German and other European firms.
Businesses that breach the U.S. sanctions risk being hit by secondary sanctions, including being barred from access to the U.S. financial system, DW adds.
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