Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, has revised its regulations to stop Iran from withdrawing €320 million ($400 million) in cash from the country’s bank accounts, the German newspaper BILD disclosed.

Under the new conditions, the Bundesbank can stop cash transfers that violate U.S. Treasury sanctions,
Germany’s measure to stop cash delivery to Tehran comes at a time when Iran’s European partners in the nuclear deal are preparing a package of economic measures to offset the U.S. pullout from the nuclear deal, officially known as JCPOA.
In May the United States pulled out of a 2015 deal between world powers and Tehran under which international sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
The latest Bundesbank measure should come as a blow to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a fervent backer of Iran’s deal, who has been at the forefront of efforts to salvage the pact despite a U.S. withdrawal.
She is also under pressure from German companies who are set to lose billions from the new U.S. sanctions. German companies like Daimler and Siemens have been among the leading beneficiaries of the opening up of the Iranian market in the wake of the deal.
Last Monday, German Ambassador to Tehran Michael Klor-Berchtold said Berlin seeks saving the nuclear deal and will support Iran in face of U.S. sanctions, IRNA reported.
“Germany attaches much importance to relations with Iran in every spheres,” the envoy said in a meeting with Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of National Security and Foreign Policy at Iran’s Parliament.
Criticizing the U.S. President Donald Trump for unilaterally withdrawing from international deals, including Iran’s deal, the German diplomat said his country along with many other European countries are against Washington’s measure.
“Germany and European Union regard the U.S. sanctions on third parties as contradictory to international laws,” he said.
The diplomat expressed hope that with EU measures Iran will be able to benefit from all its rights under the nuclear deal.
But the Bundesbank setting to bar $400 million cash delivery to Iran is something contracting the German officials’ remarks opposing the U.S. unilateral withdrawal from Iran’s deal.
“Merkel’s government—widely considered one of the most pro-Iran regime friendly European governments—has not commented on whether it will allow the roughly $400 million in cash to be sent to Iran to undercut the U.S. sanctions campaign,” said Benjamin Weinthal, a research fellow at the DC-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

(Source: agencies)