19 Apr 2024
Saturday 26 November 2016 - 12:29
Story Code : 240587

How Trump's hardline stance on Iran will affect Tehran's international trade

Sputnik- President-elect Donald Trump coming to power in the United States will not ride roughshod over trade ties between Iran and Italy, Iranian economics expert Hoshyar Rostami told Sputnik.

In an interview with Sputnik's Persian edition, Iranian economics expert Hoshyar Rostami said that the development oftrade relations betweenTehran and Rome will not be tarnished bythe coming Trump presidency.

The interview came afterItalian Industry Minister Carlo Calenda promised tosupport business deals withIran worth billions ofdollars despitethe fact that Donald Trump was elected asthe US President, according to Reuters. Calenda added that he would visit Iran alongwith Italian Economy and Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan inearly 2017. He made the remarks duringthe opening ceremony ofa trade fair forIranian companies inRome onTuesday.

Tehran re-joined the global trading system inJanuary 2016 afterthe anti-Iranian sanctions were partially lifted. Italian companies were quick toclinch deals withtheir Iranian counterparts amidTrump's warnings totear upthe hard-won Joint Comprehensive Plan ofAction (JCPOA), or the Iranian nuclear deal, signed last year.

This international agreement, which was inked inJuly 2015 betweenIran and six world powers, lifted decades ofcrushing sanctions againstTehran inexchange forcaps onits uranium enrichment and blocks toother avenues forcreating weapons-grade nuclear fuel, all tobe verified byUN inspectors. The deal came afternearly a decade ofnegotiations.

In his pre-election campaign statements, Trump called the agreement a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated," pledging that he will tear it upthe very first day he enters office.

Speaking toSputnik's Persian edition, Hoshyar Rostami noted that none ofthe JCPOA signatories, including the United States, can infringe the agreement. "Even if we assume that Trump will want todeliver onhis ambitious and offensive promises pertaining tothe anti-Iranian sanctions, he will be unable toprevent the implementation ofthe JCPOA agreement.

It cannot be broken byany ofits signatories, including the US. There will be serious legal consequences forthe United States if they take such a step," Rostami said. He added that the US will very likely prod Europeans tobecome Washington's allies interms ofslapping new sanctions againstIran given that EU countries "are very interested inthe Iranian economy returning tothe world trade caravan."

Rostami said that both Europeans and Iranians will benefit fromcooperation and that Italy, alongwith Germany and France, should "play a key role inconvincing the United States ofadhering tothe JCPOA deal." "Tehran's possible EU lobby allied circles may help mitigate Donald Trump's hardline stance onIran. But if this does not happen, the process forthe implementation ofthe JCPOA agreement will go ahead just a slightly slower speed. As fortrade relations betweenIran and the EU countries, they will not be damaged," he pointed out.

Earlier this month, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the European Union is due toensure the implementation ofIran's nuclear deal byall parties, and this position will not change afterthe new US administration takes office.

Trump won the November 8 US presidential election, stunning his opponents and a large number ofmainstream media who considered his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton the overwhelming favorite. The inauguration will be held onJanuary 20, 2017.
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