Volkswagen to cease doing business in Iran, boosting US economic sanctions

“We are pleased with this decision because Iran diverts its economic resources away from its people to spread violence and instability across the globe,” said the US Ambassador to Germany.

By: JNS and World Israel News Staff

The United States has convinced Volkswagen AG to comply with sanctions on Iran and cease conducting most business in the regime, a US official told Bloomberg News.

The Trump administration and the German automotive firm ironed out the final details on Tuesday after weeks of negotiations, according to US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who noted that Volkswagen will still be allowed to do some business in Iran under a humanitarian exception.

“We are pleased with this decision because Iran diverts its economic resources away from its people to spread violence and instability across the globe,” said Grenell.

Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the US said Wednesday in the State Department’s annual survey of global terrorism, which accused Iran of intensifying numerous conflicts and trying to undermine governments throughout the Middle East and beyond. Iran’s “terrorist affiliates and proxies,” the report said, “demonstrated a near-global terrorist reach.”

The Volkswagen move will likely undermine the European Union notion that Iran should be a place for businesses, as the EU has been trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, from which the US withdrew in May.

The first set of US sanctions against Iran that had been eased under the controversial nuclear accord went back into effect in August under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, targeting financial transactions that involve US dollars, Iran’s automotive sector, the purchase of commercial planes and metals, including gold.

US sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector and central bank are to be reimposed in early November.

The new sanctions represent “the determination to curb Iran’s aggression in the region and its ongoing intention to arm itself with nuclear weapons,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in August.