President Trump has won another victory: Germany’s central bank has terminated a $400 million cash delivery to Iran.
Deutsche Bundesbank has previously worked with the Iranian-owned European-Iranian trade bank (EIH) to end-around sanctions the United States has placed on Iran. As Fox News reports, “The U.S. and the European Union previously sanctioned the EIH for its role in advancing Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. The sanctions on the EIH were lifted after the world powers reached an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program in 2015.”
In July, it was revealed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government was trying to circumvent the sanctions that were implemented this week. U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell urged Merkel to terminate the $400 million cash delivery.
Grenell tweeted his approval of Deutsche Bank’s actions:
The U.S. Embassy in Berlin added:
New rules to be implemented on August 25 give banks the power to block transactions if those transactions could threaten “to end important relationships with central banks and financial institutions of third countries.”