European Union criticizes US President over Iran nuclear deal withdrawal

Ignoring European support for the nuclear pact, U.S. President Donald Trump-branded the agreement as “the worst deal ever” and announced on May 8 the United States was pulling out.

Turning to the issue of Trump’s recent threats that he would include the EU on a list of those who would be subject to steep steel and aluminium tariffs, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker explained that the EU wants to be granted a permanent exemption from Trump’s proposed duties. – Liquefied natural gas – At the request of the United States, Europeans are ready to “deepen relations in energy matters, in particular in the field of liquefied natural gas”, a European source said. But he made clear bigger matters were at stake.

For this goal, European Union will enact a law to ban its companies from U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran, Juncker maintained.

The “blocking statute” is a 1996 regulation originally created to get around Washington’s trade embargo on Cuba.

That came a day after many European newspapers featured dueling photographs on their front pages: the beaming visage of first daughter Ivanka Trump opening the new US Embassy in Jerusalem, and the smoky carnage an hour’s drive away in Gaza, where scores of Palestinian protesters were killed by the Israeli military. Tehran had repeatedly hailed the project as a symbol of the nuclear accord’s success. France’s President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Washington yielded nothing except for a lavish banquet and Mr. Trump’s mock dusting of a spec from Mr. Macron’s shoulder. “It’s geopolitics, avoiding escalation, doing everything to open up Iran’s economy and society”. European countries and the rest of the world are unanimous in dismissing the US decision as thoughtless and harebrained. The Europeans, majority US allies in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, say they pose no security threat and that it is simply an excuse to break with the rules-based order of the World Trade Organization.

“It’s Europe’s economic sovereignty, and what we are demanding is that we are exempted without conditions or time limits”, French President Emmanuel Macron said in Bulgaria, where European Union leaders have gathered for a summit with Balkans countries. “I don’t know the timing details exactly, but I am certain that we’re also going to shut down (in Iran)”, he told Reuters.

But the measures have never been used and may be hard to enforce, while European Union companies could still face asset seizures, fines and possibly criminal charges in the US.

“There is no possibility to have a vision of the EU-US relationship as long as Trump is here”, he told this website.

Meanwhile, European countries are considering dumping the dollar in favour of the euro when it comes to making payments to Iran for its crude oil, Russian media reported, citing a diplomatic source who had knowledge of the development. “That isn’t a sustainable path for us”, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said.

Iran has made many threats about restarting its nuclear programme if it loses the economic benefit of the nuclear deal, but the Iranian Regime never actually ended its programme, only moved it underground.