Speaking from the internationally recognised Israeli capital Tel Aviv, US Special Representative Brian Hook issued a harsh warning to European banks and firms who continue to engage in a special European Union initiative that protects trade with Iran, saying any continued attempt to circumvent the US’ new economic sanction against the Islamic Republic put themselves at risk of being subject to measures that would severely punish those that the White House believes are deliberately defying the US’ attempt to bleed the Iranian economy dry and force Tehran to return to the negotiating table to discuss a revised nuclear deal that would be far more restrictive than the one signed in 2015.

“We know that historically Iran does not come to the negotiating table without economic and diplomatic pressure. And our pressure campaign is designed to deny Iran the money it needs to not only fund regional militias, the regional aggression that we see Iran performing year in and year out, but it’s also to deny Iran the revenue that it needs to do things like conduct assassination attempts in Europe, bomb plots in Europe, and illegal drug smuggling through Europe.” said Hook in a conference call with international journalists, attended by New Europe.”

Hook was in Tel Aviv to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the fiercest critics of the three-year-old Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which has become better known to the public as “the Iran nuclear deal”. Netanyahu has long-criticised the deal for allowing Iran to have too many options to violate the agreement and gave no incentive to Tehran to strictly adhere to the tenets on the deal by putting multiple short-term deadlines on certain provisions that were designed to keep Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from acquiring or sponsoring the development of a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu has been particularly angry of the fact that the deal failed to address Iran’s active support for Islamic terrorist organisations, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, both of which are sworn enemies of Israel.

 

Full article available: https://www.neweurope.eu/article/us-warns-eu-of-harsh-consequences-if-iran-sanctions-are-circumvented/