A lawmaker has urged European states to consider breaking ranks with the US in its policy of interfering with Iran's reconnection to the global economy after the 2015 nuclear deal. "US and European officials are creating obstacles in the way of accurately implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a move that is not without precedent," Farhad Falahati said, using the formal title of the historic nuclear agreement.
"But we (still) expect EU officials to act independently from the Americans," he told ICANA on Friday. Under the JCPOA signed with the P5+1 (five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany), Iran was granted relief from international sanctions in exchange for scaling down its nuclear work.
However, Tehran has complained that due to the residual American sanctions imposed on alleged charges of human rights violations and support for terrorism, it has not been able to reap full benefits of the action plan, which came into effect in mid-January.
Under the complex US regulations, non-US banks are banned from clearing dollar-denominated transactions involving Iranian companies through the US financial system. This has scared foreign investors and the major international banks and discouraged them from dealing with Iran and its emerging market.
Western states appear to be following a unified policy on the deal, Falahati said, stressing, "The only way out of this impasse is that Europeans consider their own economic and political interests and proceed independently of the United States to cooperate with Iran."
