chijohnaok wrote:
LaPalice wrote:
It is difficult to play the economic game without dollars at the global level. It is interesting that it is made at the level of each country, not at the European level.
Six European countries join barter system for Iran tradeParis (AFP) - Paris, London and Berlin on Saturday welcomed six new European countries to the INSTEX barter mechanism, which is designed to circumvent US sanctions against trade with Iran by avoiding use of the dollar.
"As founding shareholders of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), France, Germany and the United Kingdom warmly welcome the decision taken by the governments of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, to join INSTEX as shareholders," the three said in a joint statement.
The Paris-based INSTEX functions as a clearing house allowing Iran to continue to sell oil and import other products or services in exchange.
.../...If (or perhaps when) Iran develops a nuclear bomb, then these European INSTEX countries can share their responsibility for that happening (because this action enabled Iran to finance the cost of it).
Of course they would never acknowledge that responsibility but it clearly will be there.
If I were the US President I would have the State Department send a sternly worded letter to those countries laying this out and let it go at that.
Then, if Iran does go ahead and develop a bomb the US can say "I told ya so"
If INSTEX really works, there is less chance that Iran develop a nuclear arsenal. On the contrary, if Iran is excluded from the world market, it will have the desire to have nukes, Iran will be more aggressive on the international stage.
The deal made with Iran was no nuke for the end of the sanctions, and so far, until Trump decided to install an embargo again, Iran respected the deal. It is better for the Iranians to respect the deal and to have no sanction, as it eases the atmosphere in the Iranian society. Because of the current American embargo, there are riots in Iran, with hundreds of dead.
The mollah are not stupid, they see where their interests are: a working economy. And they can have one only if they respect the deal, as long as the other parties respect it.