During the weekly government press conference in Berlin on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Tanja Alemany clarified the German government’s position to continue building business links with Iran, despite US President Donald Trump’s renewed calls for an end to trade between Iran and the EU.
Trump recently stated that the USA’s trading partners who were also dealing with Iran would be prevented from continuing to do business with the USA.
Alemany criticised the renewal of sanctions against Iran, saying it was “contrary to international law.” She also stressed that repairing economic ties with Iran was not a purely business decision; it would also help the Iranian people.
Echoing his colleague’s comments, Spokesperson for the Foreign Office Rainer Breul said, “We are certainly not doing it [lifting sanctions] as a business development programme; it’s about the JCPOA for us. And, in the agreement, it is clearly set out that new routes for the Iranian economy will be made possible again, also so that the [Iranian] populace can benefit.”