US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Germany to talk sanctions as tensions rise between US, Iran
- Pompeo says the US will not stand in the way of a system called INSTEX to shield companies from American sanctions if they deal with Iran
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that Washington would not stand in the way of a system Europeans are developing to shield companies from American sanctions if they deal with Iran, so long as the focus is providing humanitarian and other permitted goods.
Pompeo, making his first visit to Germany as secretary of state, said the US does not take issue with the development of the system known as INSTEX, so long as it deals with the trade of goods not subject to sanctions as the Europeans contend it will.
“We’ve been pretty clear about trade with Iran – there are items that are sanctioned and there are items that are not,” Pompeo told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at a government villa on the outside of Berlin.
“When we think about INSTEX, if it’s aimed at facilitating the movement of goods that are authorised to move, it’s unproblematic.”
Since pulling unilaterally out of the landmark 2015 deal with Iran that offered economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, the US has been at odds with the other nations involved that have been trying to keep the deal alive – Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China.