Summary
New sanctions from the Trump administration are forcing European and Asian firms to choose between their US and Iranian business interests.
The EU has created a special purpose vehicle called Instex to circumvent the US sanctions, but sanctions lawyer Nigel Kushner of W Legal says that the Iranians are right to feel unhappy with the effectiveness of this workaround.
Manuela Saragosa speaks to one British businessman who has already given up on trading with Iran, or indeed recovering the proceeds from his past transactions that remain trapped in an Iranian bank account. She also asks BBC Persian correspondent Jiyar Gor how the latest round of American sanctions are affecting the lives of ordinary Iranian citizens.
(Picture: A woman walks past a mural painting on the wall of the former US embassy in Tehran; Credit: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. I'm Manuela Saragossa. |
| 0:06.0 | Coming up, the future of the Iran nuclear deal hangs in the balance. |
| 0:10.1 | Can a new European financial institution save the day? |
| 0:13.6 | The financial sanctions that the US has placed on Iran are so meaningful that even if the EU want to promote trade, they will be so |
| 0:23.5 | limited in what they can promote. That's not good enough for Iran. |
| 0:27.2 | And what does it all mean for the lives of ordinary Iranians? |
| 0:31.4 | Many people have no hope in investing in Iran anymore. They know the value of their money |
| 0:37.1 | and the value of their saving |
| 0:38.7 | overnight could disappear. Disappear. That happened to millions of people in Iran. |
| 0:44.4 | That's all here in Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:51.0 | It was supposed to be a deal that reconnected the Iranian economy to the world. |
| 0:56.5 | Tehran promised China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the US that it would limit its nuclear |
| 1:02.5 | activities. In return, Iran would get economic benefits. The agreement signed in 2015 is known as |
| 1:08.6 | the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. |
| 1:12.9 | Then, last year, President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal, slapped Iran with wide-ranging economic sanctions, |
| 1:19.1 | and last week added some nuance targeting Iran's supreme leader. |
| 1:23.5 | We will continue to increase pressure on Tehran until the regime abandons its dangerous activities and aspirations, |
| 1:32.1 | including the pursuit of nuclear weapons, increased enrichment of uranium, development of ballistic missiles, |
| 1:38.7 | engagement in and support for terrorism, fueling of foreign conflicts, |
| 1:44.0 | and belligerent acts directed against the United |
| 1:46.5 | States and its allies. The agreement that was signed was a disaster. It was not doing what |
| 1:53.7 | it was supposed to do. Many bad things were taking place. And most importantly, it was so short-term |
... |
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