Senators Threaten Action If Europe Ignores US Sanctions Against Iran

Joint letter warns EU nations to comply with US law

A group of 10 Republicans senators have issued a joint letter to the ambassadors from Britain, France and Germany saying they are “troubled” by European efforts to evade newly imposed US sanctions against Iran.

President Trump withdrew the US out of the P5+1 nuclear deal, of which all three of those European nations are still party to. The US thus considers the deal over, and wants all the pre-deal sanctions back in place. The European nations, and the EU in general, are trying to save the deal, irrespective of US opposition.

The letter demands that the European nations “comply with all American sanctions,” and warns that continued attempts to avoid doing so could be met by “congressional action” against the Europeans for resisting them.

The European Union has already rejected the idea of reimposing the US sanctions. In addition to Germany, France, and Britain, who have continued to commit to sanctions relief for Iran, the EU in general has forbidden European companies from complying with any US sanctions against Iran related to the nation’s civilian nuclear program.

Europe had to do this same thing once before, related to US sanctions on Cuba. In that case, Europe forced the US to back off trying to make Europe accept the sanctions, and it is expected that if push comes to shove, the EU may force a similar confrontation over Iran, reflecting their anger at the unilateral US pullout from the Iran deal.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.