EU lawmakers on Wednesday gave their approval for the European Investment Bank (EIB) to do business in Iran, overcoming a blocking attempt and keeping alive plans to save the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran that Washington has abandoned.
The EIB, the EU’s not-for-profit long-term investment arm, is a key pillar of the bloc’s attempts to maintain business links with Iran in the face of Washington’s decision to reimpose sanctions on the Tehran.
However, the EU lawmakers’ decision does not oblige the EIB to work with Iran, a move that could jeopardize its ability to raise money on US markets and so have far reaching consequences for its operations.
The European Parliament overwhelmingly blocked a motion by far-right lawmakers seeking to prevent the European Commission from lifting restrictions on the EIB in Iran, setting the stage for the measure to come into effect at the start of next month.
The blocking motion, put forward by the far-right Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group that includes Britain’s euroskeptic UK Independence Party, failed with only 93 votes for, 573 against and 11 abstentions.
“We are granting the EIB the capacity to invest in Iran if suitable projects are found,” said Siegfried Muresan, a lawmaker from the center-right European People’s Party, which led the preparatory discussions on the proposal.
“The Iran deal is good for Europe’s security,” he said, referring to the accord signed by world powers in 2015 that curbs Tehran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons.
US President Donald Trump’s Iran-related sanctions start to come into effect next month.
Some European companies investing in Iran and with big operations in the US have announced they will pull out of business deals with Tehran.
The pillars of the EU’s strategy are: EIB lending, a special measure to shield EU companies from US secondary sanctions and a commission proposal that EU governments make direct money transfers to Iran’s central bank to avoid US penalties.
However, the EIB is concerned about the proposal that it do business in Iran, EU sources said last month, fearing the threat of US sanctions could imperil its ability to raise funds on US capital markets.
Meanwhile, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander on Wednesday said that Tehran would block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if the US bans Iranian oil sales.
“If they want to stop Iranian oil exports, we will not allow any oil shipment to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” Ismail Kowsari was quoted as saying by the Young Journalists Club Web site.
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