Germany Says Working on Legal Channel for Trade with Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Germany is working on maintaining a legal channel for trade with Iran, a government spokesman said on Monday.
“Along with our E3 partners, we’re undertaking efforts to keep enabling legitimate trade with Iran, in particular by providing a payment channel,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular news conference, Reuters reported.
“E3” stands for Germany, France and Britain, which are parties to the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
EU leaders are set to talk about Iran with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels on Monday.
The three ministers and the EU High Representative and Vice President Federica Mogherini will discuss their response to Iran’s announcement on Wednesday that it intended to abandon some commitments to the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
European countries said last week they wanted to preserve the Iran nuclear deal and rejected “ultimatums” from Tehran, after Iran relaxed restrictions on its nuclear program and threatened moves that might leave the international pact.
Iran’s move came a few days after the US administration renewed five of seven sanctions waivers that allow Russia and European nations to conduct civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran but revoked the other two as part of its pressure campaign against Tehran.
Washington also stopped issuing waivers to buy Iranian crude oil on May 2.
The European Union has vowed to counter Trump’s renewed sanctions on Iran, including by means of a new law to shield European companies from punitive measures, but it has so far failed to do anything beyond making statements.
