On Monday, European Union foreign policy director Federica Mogherini revealed that a plan to ensure trade with Iran can continue despite US threats. This plan had been discussed by the EU before, but now is also including China and Russia, the other powers in the Iran nuclear deal.
The deal will see the European Union formally establishing a clearing house that will act as a legal entity specifically to handle all Iran trade among all the companies in the nations involved. This will allow everyone to circumvent banks when trading with Iran.
The clearing house model means, for instance, that one company could import Iranian oil and gas, while a second company could be hired by Iran for infrastructure improvements. Instead of any money changing hands with Iran, one company would pay what they owe Iran to the clearing house, which would pay the other companies which Iran owes money to.
A comparable model would presumably have to be established in Iran to deal with different companies and government agencies within Iran exporting and importing goods. Since these are almost all state-owned companies, this likely will be simpler on the Iranian side.
Though the European Union had already passed laws pledging to protect all private companies trading with Iran, a number of EU banks have refused to facilitate any of this trade, because the US is threatening to cut such banks off from the US market.
The inability to get banks on board was meaning a lot of European companies are backing away from deals, fearing they’d never be able to get paid. This new plan is meant to address that concern, but it remains to be seen if this will lead to a quick turnaround for European companies heading back into Iran. China and Russia joining will likely give this clearing house more credibility, as neither of those nations ever really stopped trading with Iran.
May be start of a New Type of Barter Trade by Europe, Russia, China & Others Might Join Later to Counter American ill designed Tactics; Thus, Finally, Resulting in Demise of American Dollar due to President Trump’s Idiotic Actions…..
This might circumvent the banks, but the individual companies will still be subject to US sanctions. This plan is just a drop in the bucket.
No, the clearing house acts as a middleman. The companies would be trading with the clearing house.
Washington’s playing a dangerous game here.
Since the end of World War Two, the US has been able to use its dominating position– highest GDP in the world — to carrot and stick the REST of the world into doing things its way. Do it our way or you can’t buy and sell here, and we’ll also bully our dependent allies into not trading with you either.
The US still has the highest GDP in the world. It’s larger than China. It’s larger than the EU. It’s larger than India. It’s larger than Russia. Etc.
It is not, however, larger than the EU and China combined. Or larger than China, Germany, India and France combined, etc.
At some point, the sanctions, etc. cover so many other countries that the cost/benefit ratio doesn’t look like it used to look to those bullied allies:
“If the US forces us to choose between trading with the US on one hand OR trading with China, Russia, Iran, et al, well, it’s the US we’re giving up on.”
World dominance comes and goes. World dominance by the US is going. It can go gently as other countries catch up, or it can go roughly as the US wakes up one day finds out it doesn’t get to push everyone around any more because everyone else is tired of putting up with Washington’s constantly changing, tiresome, petty shit.
Also the US president pushed nationalism to the globalists assembled at the UN.
“America is governed by Americans,” he said to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday in one his highest-profile speeches of the year. “We reject the ideology of globalism and accept the doctrine of patriotism.”
This further opened the door for Europeans (and others) to defy Washington.
The only mistake the US has made is too many fights at once.
It can win one or two.
The US cam win if it acts systematically
winning is losing.
How so?
Trump’s speech in the UNA, though not unexpected, must surely alert more people to the monstrous lies he utters towards Iran, and his praise for Saudi Arabia and other “sovereign nations”.
Trump seems to think that trade wars are all fun and games, but how many countries do you think will want to help the next time USA wants to invade a country?
The EU could always place sanctions on the US for breaking a UN resolution, and supplying weapons and funding to a terrorist state – Saudi Arabia.
Let the EU try.
Their economy is eeaker than theUS
I’ve got news for you. The combined GDP of the EU, Russia, and China is larger than ours. By almost 50%.
The rest of the world wont choose Iran over the US.
The US is stolill number one.
China ( one child policy ) isnt going to win
Russia 1% GDP growth isnt the future
Excpt for Norwary and Germany the EU is a train wreck
What a delightful, fun person you must be!!!
Nicer than the people on this board
Most Americans have for several years opposed the bloody, illegal, expensive, counterproductive and immoral regime change wars, but Congress and presidents keep supporting and expanding them because of the huge bribes, euphemistically known as campaign contributions and corporate board seats, that they receive from the Military Industrial Complex and groups such as AIPAC, and voters keep electing and re-electing them. It’s going to take massive demonstrations and electoral defeats of the neocon hawks who dominate both parties to change things.
Despite President Trump’s instinctual position as a saber-ratting negotiator who ultimately desires peace and prosperity and his anti-interventionist campaign rhetoric, most of his advisers and cabinet officers, who subscribe to Bush-Obama-Clinton casuistry and largely control US foreign policy, believe that the US-UK-Israeli axis must act to protect and empower its al Qaeda and other jihadi allies and continue the mission to spread massive death, destruction, poverty, chaos, anarchy and irredentism across North Africa and the Middle East until only Israel and Saudi Arabia remain as viable states. It makes no difference that most Syrians, especially Christians and Alawites, support Dr Assad and that the jihadis would be far worse than he is alleged to be. They are as unconcerned about the likely genocide of Alawites and Christians, should their strategy succeed as in other countries in the region, and they do not care that the Assad government is the only defense against a massive genocide.
President Trump and Secretary Mattis are more inclined to a peaceful resolution, renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal and not going to war. However, Secretary Pompeo, Vice President Pence, National Security Adviser Bolton, CIA Director Haspel and Senior Adviser Kushner are far more hawkish and very well may dictate policy. John Bolton incessantly parrots the lie that Iran is the “leading state sponsor of terrorism”, and when challenged with the facts, he says “because they are the leading sponsors of terrorism”. Actually, the US unquestionably deserves that title. This is what passes for logic, morality and analytical thought in Washington.They seem totally unconcerned that their neoconservative warmongering might very well lead to World War III, pitting Iran, Syria, Russia and probably China against the US, UK and Israel. The US’s putative allies in NATO (other than the UK) and West Asia are more likely to sit it out than to join what’s sure to be the losing side in a long, bloody and horrendously expensive war. Let’s hope that cool heads, morality, international law and enlightened self interest prevail. President Trump’s legacy, and the eternal fate of his soul, depend on his decisions.
Not the pusillanimous EU.
Companies won’t be dealing with Iran, they’ll be dealing with “EU Trading Corp”–a state-owned corporation whose records are secret by law, and all of whose officials are members of intelligence agencies.
And you guys don’t think the US gov will be able to put 2 and 2 together? I don’t think much of our intelligence agencies, but come on.
There’s a difference between knowing (or at least strongly suspecting) something, and being able to produce evidence admissible in court. When everyone who has the necessary information is a trained operative and would be putting their government career on the line (and risking serious jail time) to collaborate, it becomes much harder to get data. If the US goes ahead and enacts sanctions against European companies despite any court-admissible evidence, European governments would be under political pressure to retaliate in a way that they would not be if any sanctions violations could be proven.
That’s a fair point. But I’d counter that Washington has a history of sanctioning many countries/entities based on obvious lies, much less than non-admissible evidence.
Yes, but politically it’s much easier for a business leader to explain that he’s being sanctioned by the US, when he only ever traded with his own government, than to admit to violating sanctions and trying to avoid getting caught. If the government trading house orders 100 centrifuges from me, how am I supposed to know that the end destination is Iran? Am I expected to refuse to trade with the government on the possibility that the goods might go somewhere the US doesn’t want them to? Even if the financial results were identical, it makes the business and political leadership look better, and isn’t that what things are really all about?
I wish for the people of Iran that they will eventually and peacefully opt for and get a secular governance without a national religion. Trump’s policies will either lead to a civil war or to a prolonging of the current governance by ayatollahs.
I wish for those who are not native to Palestine to vacate that land go back to Europe, the land of their father/grandfather. And let the Muslims, Christians and Jews there live in peace.
Dismantle Israel, a colonial-squatter apartheid enterprise.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a575ffa7424643ab2032f3ace68a54eb59e41a15aab9b8f83cdfbde4e7e9a96e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/13e06851d1cd8f1b70956d501c3c21c0dcb5420f16c8f71526fa4437ce95f36e.jpg
What business it it of yours, or mine, what Iranians choose?
Sonce Iran has done a lot of bad stuff
The answer is obvious
Oil price is headed up, which benefits Iran. It’s not a time to cut supply.
https://d32r1sh890xpii.cloudfront.net/header_graphs/blend_71_4.png?t=1537973091835
Pompeo appears to be throwing in the towel, while claiming to be championing “the people of Iran” as Trump has done. Bringing people to their knees is good for them! . . .say The People In Charge.
. . .from cnsnews (excerpts)…
I hope it works or the blackmailer will win and become worse.