US fails to shield humanitarian trade with Iran as sanctions loom
European governments are urging the Trump administration to identify a legal means for their companies to continue to provide food and medicine to Iranians after the Nov. 5 re-imposition of secondary sanctions begins.
European countries seeking to preserve the Iran nuclear deal in the face of resumed US sanctions are urging the Donald Trump administration to clarify how they can continue to legally provide food, medicine and medical devices to Iran.
Humanitarian trade is supposed to be exempt from the sanctions, which go back into full effect on Nov. 5. But with European banks reluctant to finance any transactions with Iran for fear of jeopardizing their much more lucrative US business, it remains unclear how crucial items will continue to flow to the Iranian people.
At an event at the conservative Hudson Institute on Oct. 29, French Ambassador to Washington Gerard Araud said US European allies “are expecting our American friends to make some gestures. For instance, the humanitarian goods. Of course, humanitarian goods are not sanctioned. But the fact is that the banks are so terrified by the sanctions that they don’t want to do anything with Iran.”
Araud added, “There is a strong risk in a few months that there will be a shortage of medicine in Iran if we don’t do something positive to solve this problem.”
