As the US firms prepare to exit Iran to avoid the sanctions, most French companies hoping to keep doing business in Iran after the US imposes new sanctions on the country will find it impossible to do so, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday.
These companies "won't be able to stay because they need to be paid for the products they deliver to Iran, and they cannot be paid because there is no sovereign and autonomous European financial institution" capable of shielding them, Le Maire told BFM television.
"Our priority is to build independent, sovereign European financial institutions which would allow financing channels between French, Italian, German, Spanish and any other countries," Le Maire said.
"It's up to us Europeans to choose freely and with sovereign power who we want to do business with," he added.
Washington announced in the beginning of May that it will withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal and decided to impose sanctions on Tehran and any firms that deal with it. Washington granted a period of 90 to 180 days to withdraw from this country.
"The United States should not be the planet's economic policeman,” he added.
Several French firms have already announced their withdrawal from Iran including BSE Auto after it sold 446.6 thousand vehicles in the past year in Iran.
US Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker affirmed that these sanctions will lead to prevent the Iranian regime from misusing the global financial regime.
