Minister plays down concerns over exit of european companies
Iran’s Minister of Energy played down concerns that an array of European companies have begun to quit business with Tehran for fear of US penalties under new anti-Iranian sanctions, saying such intermittent cooperation with Iran has recurred several times in the past four decades.
Asked by Tasnim about his view on the exit of many European companies from Iran after the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and for fear of receiving punishment under the new US sanctions against Tehran, Reza Ardakanian said, “Such back-and-forth (business with Iran) has repeated over the past forty years.”
The foreign companies have sometimes come to Iran and at other times left (the country),” the minister noted, adding, “There is no cause for worry.”
On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), and announced plans for new sanctions against Tehran.
After the announcement, many foreign enterprises, including European oil companies and automakers, decided to pull out of Iran or cease doing business with Iranian firms. The high profile companies halting cooperation with Iran include Boeing, Total, General Electric, Shell, Maersk, Airbus, Groupe PSA, and Renault.
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