Following President Donald Trump’s decision to no longer abide by the Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, has urged the German businesses to stop trading with the Islamic Republic of Iran. “US sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately,” Grenell tweeted on Tuesday.
Besides Iranian regime, European countries like Germany and France have been the biggest beneficiaries of the economic windfall generated from the 2015 nuclear deal. Carmakers Daimler and Peugeot have joined forces with Iranian partners to set up manufacturing plants in the country. Siemens landed a huge contract to upgrade Iran’s railway network. Aircraft maker Airbus, in which both Germany and France hold stakes, signed a $27 billion deal to supply airliners to Tehran.
As @realDonaldTrump said, US sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.
According to the Hamburg-based weekly DerSpiegel, German companies urged the Merkel government to protect their business interests in the wake of the U.S. decision. “Worried about Iran Trade, German Businesses Seek Government Support,” the headline in DerSpiegel said.
The German business sector responded with shock to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement to pull out of the Iran deal.
“The companies are worried that their trade with Iran could lead to loss of business in the United States.” The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) said. “European firms face the threat of sanctions–eventually–if their Iranian business partners end up on the U.S. sanctions lists.
The U.S. sanctions will hit German firms even if the EU unilaterally abstains from imposing sanctions against Iran, according to the association. It is unclear if the U.S. will allow the old contracts to stand. “The German government and the EU need to act now to protect Europe’s Iran trade and restore the lost confidence.” demanded the DIHK. [Translation by author]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already declared her opposition to the U.S. President’s move. “We remain committed to the Iran deal,” the German newspaper DieWelt reported, quoting Chancellor Merkel.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass assured that nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic was still in place. “The agreement is not dead,” Mass told the German broadcaster ARD. “We will try to keep this important agreement alive–an agreement that ensures security in the Near and the Middle East and thereby in the entire world.”
Similar efforts are underway in France as well. “We will obviously do everything, in conjunction with our businesses, to protect their interests,” a French source told the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post.
“Europeans want to save the nuclear agreement,” wrote the German newspaper Die Welt. The newspaper highlighted the diplomatic efforts underway in Europe following the US withdrawal:
Foreign ministers from Germany, France and the UK are deliberating if and how they can salvage the Vienna agreement of 2015 [Iran deal] without the United States. Iran wants to stick to the deal for the meanwhile, but has made it conditional to the promised economical benefits. [Translation by author]
The German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was more belligerent in its reporting. “Trump’s Act of Destruction,” read the headline of the editorial penned by the newspaper’s DC correspondent. “The European companies, engaged in trading with Iran, will suffer the consequences, too,” the editorial added.
As the media coverage and statements from Berlin indicate, Germany’s political and business establishments are determined to salvage the Iran deal, or at least the lucrative financial gains made in Iran in the wake of the 2015 agreement.
If the U.S. sanctions were to snap back into place following President Trump’s decision, German businesses could try to sabotage the measures. European corporations and banking sectors have a history of colluding with Iranian businesses. In 2014, Germany’s Commerzbank was fined $1.45 billion by the U.S. authorities for violating the Iran sanctions. Following year, France’s Paribas paid $9 billion in legal settlements for committing similar violations.
With leading German and French companies entangled in Iranian trade, it is unlikely for Chancellor Merkel or President Macron to follow America’s example and abandon the deal anytime soon. Despite German Chancellor pledging her ‘commitment’ and country’s Foreign Minister vowing to keep the agreement ‘alive,’ President Trump’s decisive action has killed the deal. The sooner the European political and business elite realize it, the better.
Video: Ambassador Grenell discusses Germany and the Iran deal [May 5, 2018]
Poster Comment:
Grenell didn't even unpack before he lowered the boom on German profiteering with Iran. Sounds like Bolton's idea to me.
For the past year, German officials have been urging their U.S. counterparts to send a new ambassador to Berlin. But after finally receiving one, many may be having second thoughts.
Within hours of assuming his new post Tuesday, Richard Grenell triggered harsh criticism in this Trump-weary country after appearing to threaten one of the U.S. president’s frequent targets: German businesses.
In a tweet after President Trump’s announcement to leave the Iran nuclear deal, Grenell wrote that “German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.” Germany, alongside France and Britain, wants to stick to the deal Trump is seeking to scrap. And while Grenell’s post may not deviate from the official White House stance on future European business dealings with Iran, the timing and tone struck some German politicians, journalists and business executives as offensive and inappropriate.
What sin did he commit?
As @realDonaldTrump said, US sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.
The truth is that they are offended because they have invested billions in Iran since 2015 and those investments are in danger. The Europeans are making squealing noises about shielding their companies from secondary sanctions, but that is nonsense. Companies doing substantial business in Iran are eventually going to have to have access to international banking networks and secondary sanctions will hit their bankers as well as the companies directly involved. Grennel gave them some sage advice. Wind down your operations now because Treasury is going to have no mercy.
This is an overdue eye-opener for the Germans. Ever since Obama chose to use the Brandenburg Gate as a setting for a campaign speech, the Germans have become accustomed to the US jumping when they speak. Under Obama we were not a superpower, we were the geopolitical equivalent of the big, weak, fat kid who starts crying and hands over his lunch money when confronted by any threat. Under Trump, we are again learning to act like a great power. Grennel, I hope, is just the first of many ambassadors who care more about the United States than they do about the tightly wadded and soiled knickers of people whose opinions really aren’t the final word.
Awww...WaPo and our German allies are offended. Now I'm all shook up...
Apparently, the Germans wanted a new ambassador so they could communicate their dictates to That Idiot In The White House. And it didn't quite work out the way they had hoped.
You can bet that Trump loved this quick decisive action. Somewhere in the background, Mnuchin is smiling and waiting for his chance to sanction major German corporations...
Boeing and Airbus will lose contracts worth roughly $39 billion to replenish Iran's aging fleet of commercial planes as part of the Trump administration's reimposition of sanctions. "The Boeing and Airbus licenses will be revoked," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a group of reporters ...
With Airbus losing a $19B sale to Iran, you can see why the Germans are unhappy. And if they defy us, Airbus will lose its ability to deal with all American banks and financial entities and would be out of business in a matter of weeks.
So this isn't just some threat that they might do something later. This is a very immediate threat that will force the cancellation of these aircraft orders now. Today. No matter what that traitorous scumbag John Kerry is whispering into the ears of the EU political elites.
Boeing and Airbus will lose contracts worth roughly $39 billion to replenish Iran's aging fleet of commercial planes as part of the Trump administration's reimposition of sanctions.
So what? Are Boeing and Airbus baby mamas that need welfare to "feed their chil-runs?"
So what? Are Boeing and Airbus baby mamas that need welfare to "feed their chil-runs?"
Boeing/Airbus just aren't going to be allowed to sell planes or even parts to Iran. You recall the old Iran/Contra scandal? Even back then, Iran was scrambling just to get spare aircraft parts. We've played this particular game for many many years.
Boeing/Airbus are big powerful corporations that can make themselves heard via their armies of lobbyists. It will do them no good. And they have been given to understand that it would not be wise to buck Trump too much.
Import and (especially) export controls are a very powerful tool in the hands of the executive branch. Very powerful.
I always thought that Trump would find the right subordinates and the right levers of power to exercise against his opponents. This is an example of how much Trump has learned in a year on the job about the vast extent of the powers of an American president and his cabinet.
