Today the Trump administration is imposing further sanctions on the Islamic Republic, making it harder for European as well as American firms to do business there. The leaders of the EU, meanwhile, seem determined to preserve economic ties with Tehran, and are considering various legal and financial measure to counter U.S. sanctions. Morgan Ortagus warns against these efforts:
What is lost on European governments, but not on business leaders, is that Iran has proved to be a difficult place to do business. After its 30 years of effectively being out of the mainstream of world economics, many emerging-market entrepreneurs were salivating to reach a new and potentially explosive untapped market. What European businesses have found instead is a lack of trust with their Iranian business counterparts, inability to get payments on time, and endless arguments over terms. Moreover, after the huge fines paid by European banks to American regulators during the Obama administration, many financial institutions and corporations were loath to enter the Iranian market in the first place. . . .
As lines are drawn in the sand, European governments must ask themselves: is anger at Trump for his tactics worth standing by a brutal regime which has been caught multiple times in the past six months planning attacks on European soil? That just this week tried to assassinate an Iranian dissident in Denmark? Is it worth deepening the wounds of the transatlantic alliance, in order to stand by an enemy of America?
Source » mosaicmagazine