Press TV - A European Union official says the 28-nation bloc could put in place blocking regulations to ensure that its companies continue doing business with Iran if the United States pulls out of the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal.
Denis Chaibi, head of the Iranian task force at the EUs external action service,told the Euromoney Iran Conference 2018 in Paris on Thursday that in case of a US withdrawal, one of the bloc's options would be to restore blocking regulations," which were agreed in 1996 amid Washington's economic sanctions against Cuba.
We are looking at a number of possibilities. It is not complicated to do it legally in that the legal instrument exists, but it doesnt require a huge internal debate, Chaibi said.
The EU rules"could be revived or put back, but only if it is clear that the USis putting back sanctions with extraterritorial sanctions and that they are being applied. It cant be done protectively, he added.
Iran and the P5+1 countries namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany reached the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in July 2015 and started implementing it in January 2016.
Under the accord, Iran undertook to apply certain limitsto its nuclear program in exchange for the termination of all nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran.
US President Donald Trump is opposed to theJCPOA, which was negotiated by hispredecessor, Barack Obama, and warned that he might ultimately terminate it.
Last month, Trump extended waivers of key economic sanctions on Iran, lifted under the nuclear agreement, for another 120 days but said he was doing so for the last time.
He furthercalled on European allies and US Congress to work with him tofixthe disastrousflaws in the pact or face a US exit.
