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major powers have been rather too eager to talk the talk, but far from impressive when it comes to credible action.
France's PSA Group, the maker of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars has already said it will wind down its joint venture activities in the country, while R enault has stated it will continue to keep its business in Iran open - even if downsizes to only a skeleton crew.
Meanwhile energy major Total, which has signed a multi-million-euro deal to develop part of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, has stressed it can only continue work in Iran with a waiver from the US Treasury , a very unlikely prospect as things stand.
The French companies “won’t be able to stay because they need to be paid for the products they deliver to or build in Iran, and they cannot be paid because there is no sovereign and autonomous European financial institution” capable of shielding them from the US sanctions to be rolled out following Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the multilateral nuclear deal, Le Maire told BFM television.
“Our priority is to build independent, sovereign European financial institutions that would allow financing channels between French, Italian, German, Spanish and any other countries on the planet,” Le Maire added. “It’s up to us Europeans to choose freely and with sovereign power whom we want to do business with,” he said.
Stressing earlier points made by other French officials, and backed up by EU leaders , Le Maire reiterated that Europe must stand up for its rights and sovereignty. "The United States should not be the planet's economic policeman."
The EU has been attempting to build a bulwark against secondary US sanctions concerning Iran which are likely to come into place in August. The UK, France and Germany have led the demand for the US to grant waivers against such sanctions for European companies, with no evident joy so far.
2.6 Economic stress in Iran sparks fast-growing “I won’t buy” social media campaign
Economic stress felt in Iran has produced a growing social media campaign named “I won’t buy” that drives a boycott of expensive products that have lately seen big price hikes despite government consumer protection measures, Iranian media outlets reported on June 17.
The civil disobedience campaign, present on Persian-language social media channels, is reportedly gathering momentum quickly and has prompted all sections of society to comment on the increasing cost of day to day living in Iran. Price increases of up to 30% have occurred despite government price-fixing rules on fast moving consumer goods (FMCG). The Iranian rial (IRR) is languishing , while official inflation only stands somewhere around 10%. On June 7, largest Iranian carmaker Iran Khodro (IKCO) halted all sales of new cars amid a push to increase the overall prices of its vehicles.
10 IRAN Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com