The European Union issued a joint statement on Monday, along with Britain, France, and Germany, that expressed “regret” over the Trump Administration’s decision to reimpose nuclear sanctions against Iran. The statement vowed to protect European companies doing business in Iran.
The US withdrew from the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, and has returned its sanctions to 2015 levels. Britain, Germany, and France all remain parties to the peace treaty, and obliged to offer Iran sanctions relief so long as it complies with the deal. The rest of the EU has agreed to support the deal as well.
Though US sanctions are intended to be global, the EU has plans on circumventing them,, and is continuing to work on more ways to facilitate European companies buying from Iran, and providing goods and services to Iran.
Most of this is going to mean going around the international banking system, as US threats have scared most major banks away. The EU has intended to create a clearing house that would allow EU companies to circumvent the banks and trade with Iran without any money leaving the union.