BERLIN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Peter Beyer (CDU), the federal government's official commissioner for transatlantic relations, urged German firms operating in Iran on Tuesday to prepare for the swift imposition of U.S. sanctions.
Speaking to the public broadcaster ARD, Beyer warned that fines and a loss of access the U.S. markets for companies in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord could take effect as soon as "September, November." The government official emphasized that transatlantic relations had deteriorated significantly and warned that sanctions were hence likely to have a "direct and immediate impact on German firms and their business operations."
Beyer told "ARD" that Berlin was doing everything in its power to avert economic damage resulting from the widely-condemned move by Trump. However, he currently saw "no judicial basis" for creating a government fund to offset the effects of sanctions as demanded recently by some business representatives.
Speaking to the newspaper "BILD", justice minister Maas recently cautioned in a similar fashion that he saw "no easy solution" to excluding German firms from the economic fallout of U.S. punitive measures aimed at Iran. As a consequence, business leaders would have to make a choice between being active either in the U.S. or Iranian market.
Washington has announced that international companies which are already active in Iran will have a grace period of between three and six months to wind down their operations entirely. The foreign ministers of Germany, France and the United Kingdom are scheduled to hold emergency talks over the subject with Iranian representatives in Brussels on Tuesday.
Speaking to the "Funke" media group ahead of the high-level meeting, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) reiterated that Europe remained committed to the Iran deal, "regardless of the decision of the U.S.", as long as Teheran abided by its conditions. Maas issued a rallying call to countries dedicated to multilateralism to work together to salvage what he described as an "important building bloc of the non-proliferation international order."
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Iran has so far complied with all of the conditions established under the nuclear deal. The landmark agreement was signed in July 2015 by Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus the European Union (EU) and Germany.
