BERLIN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Germany, France and Britain are demanding for their companies to be exempted from new U.S. sanctions against Iran in a joint letter seen by Xinhua on Wednesday.
The letter was addressed by the three European countries to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin.
In the high-level document, Berlin, Paris and London urged Washington to ensure that the U.S. president "grant exemptions from U.S. sanctions for EU companies".
The letter is signed by German foreign minister Heiko Maas, finance minister Olaf Scholz, minister for the economy Peter Altmaier, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Frederica Mogherini.
Amongst others, the European signatories called for companies which only built economic relations with Iran in 2016 after the agreement of the landmark nuclear deal with Teheran to be spared from sanctions.
The message noted that Europeans shared U.S. concerns with regards to the Iranian ballistic missile program. While the EU was willing to keep economic incentives for Teheran enshrined in the nuclear deal intact, Brussels expected continued full Iranian compliance with the de-proliferation regime in exchange.
As a consequence, the Europeans are seeking sector exemptions for the pharmaceutical-, energy-, civil aviation- and automotive industry from new U.S. sanctions, and want to preserve business relations with Iranian banks which do not feature on any EU sanctions lists.
The text emphasized that Germany, France and the United Kingdom were committed to upholding the Iran deal abandoned by the U.S. which they described as the "best basis" to prevent nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and general destabilization of the region.
"As allies, we expect that the United States will refrain from taking action to harm Europe's security interests," the letter reads.
The candid letter that is dated on June 4 is indicative of a longer-standing trend of deteriorating transatlantic relations between Europe and America.
In an unusual interference with German domestic politics, the new U.S. ambassador in Berlin Richard Grenell ordered companies in his host country to "immediately wind down" their operations in Iran following Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
Despite having only been officially posted to Germany in May, Grenell has already heard vocal criticism by local politicians for undiplomatic public interventions including calls for his sacking.
