Europe Looks to Bypass Iran Payment Embargo

Europe should look to bypass US payment systems by creating its own financial channels on the lines of a European monetary fund and international bank transfer system like SWIFT, Germany's foreign minister has said.
Writing in the German Handelsblatt newspaper, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for setting up independent payment channels, largely as a way for European businesses to avoid US sanctions targeting any firms—whether inside or outside the US–that do business with Iran.
"As Europeans, we have clearly told the Americans that we consider phasing out the nuclear deal with Iran a mistake," Maas said in an op-ed for Handelsblatt on Wednesday, CNBC reported.