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TOP STORIES
European firms have started pulling back investment and
abandoning commitments in Iran, responding to a decision last week to
reimpose broad American sanctions on Tehran by year end.
Qatar and its adversaries in the Persian Gulf crisis
have finally agreed to do something together: join the U.S. in
placing terror sanctions on the Iranian ally Hezbollah. The U.S.
Treasury Department said Wednesday that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates and other Gulf nations are slapping sanctions on
Hezbollah's senior leadership.
Using European Union powers to ban banks in the bloc
from complying with U.S. sanctions on Iran would be of
"limited" use given the global reach of finance, the EU's
financial services chief said on Thursday.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
The European Union warned that ending the Iran nuclear
deal would be a "major threat" to security in the Middle
East as the bloc prepared measures to protect its companies if the
Trump administration re-imposes sanctions following the U.S.'s withdrawal
from the agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back on Wednesday
against Washington's rejection of the Iran nuclear deal, saying the
accord helped outside powers worried about Tehran's regional role to
pursue their concerns with the Islamic Republic.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says
that all efforts must be made to keep the Iran nuclear agreement
alive despite the U.S. pullout because "to end the deal would
gravely threaten the peace and security in this tumultuous region.
European Union leaders agreed on Wednesday to try to
keep the Iran nuclear deal alive and maintain their reviving economic
cooperation with Tehran after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew
from the pact. But the 28 EU leaders did not make any quick decisions
during their first meeting on the matter since Trump quit the accord
earlier this month, highlighting how U.S. clout in international
trade and finance limits the Europeans' scope for action.
European officials eager to salvage 2-year-old nuclear
curbs on Iran are said to be exploring ways to ensure Tehran's
continued participation following the U.S. decision to abandon the
so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), under which
Tehran limited sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions
relief.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Total SA said it will not risk investing in Iran
following the return of U.S. sanctions, unless it can secure a
waiver. Continuing to do business in Iran would be too great a risk as
the company has large operations in the U.S. and depends on the
country's banks for financing its operations, Total said in a
statement Wednesday.
The world's largest container shipping firm A.P.
Moller-Maersk said Thursday it would shut down its business in Iran
to abide with reimposed sanctions after Washington pulled the United
States from a nuclear accord. "With the sanctions the Americans
are to impose, you can't do business in Iran if you also have
business in the U.S., and we have that on a large scale," Soren
Skou told Reuters in an interview following the firm's first-quarter
report.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday Europe
would try to protect its companies doing business with Iran from U.S.
sanctions, reimposed over Tehran's nuclear program, but said giants
like Total would make their own choices.
Iranian state TV is reporting that Tehran has signed an
agreement with a British consortium to develop an oil field in the
country's south. The agreement is the first between Iran and a key
Western ally of the United States since Washington last week
announced it will pull out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between
Iran and Western powers. Managing Director of Pergas International
Consortium Colin Rowley, and Bijan Alipour, managing director of
National Iranian South Oil Co., signed a preliminary deed on the
partnership in the presence of British Ambassador Rob Macaire in
Tehran.
On Monday, [Aras] Habib, chairman of a Baghdad bank,
celebrated winning a seat in Iraq's parliament following a nationwide
vote on Saturday. On Tuesday, he was among three people sanctioned by
the U.S. Treasury Department for allegedly funneling money for Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Following is a list of companies that could be affected
by U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from an
international nuclear deal with Iran and impose sanctions on Tehran.
A Turkish banker who was convicted of taking part in a
billion-dollar conspiracy to violate United States sanctions on Iran
was sentenced to 32 months in prison on Wednesday in Manhattan, a far
shorter term than prosecutors had sought.
SYRIA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL & IRAN
[A]s Western states endeavor to redefine their role on
the Syrian stage, Iran has felt the need to adapt its approach to the
new equations.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
The day after the meeting of Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammed Jawad Zarif with his counterparts from France, Germany and
Britain, President Hassan Rowhani criticized the critics of the
nuclear deal in the Iranian internal circles, calling on them to
direct their blows at the United States' Administration.
NORTH KOREA & IRAN
Among proponents of the 2015 agreement with Iran's
ayatollahs engineered by the Obama White House, Trump's pullout was
condemned as ill-advised for a host of reasons, not least because it
complicates America's planned negotiations with North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un. After all, these critics argue, why would Pyongyang
trust a Washington that doesn't honor its international obligations?
That argument, however, is flat wrong. In fact, President Trump's
decision to scrap the Iran nuclear deal actually strengthens his
bargaining position vis-à-vis Pyongyang, and it increases the
pressure on the North Korean regime to make meaningful concessions
regarding its strategic arsenal if the two leaders meet next month in
Singapore as planned.
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