Ishaan Tharoor comments on the creation of Europe’s “special purpose vehicle”earlier this week:
But experts say the move is consequential for its symbolism alone. Western European leaders desperately tried to dissuade President Trump from pulling out of the nuclear deal, which was the product of years of complex diplomacy and which even U.S. intelligence sources believe has effectively curbed Iran’s nuclear program. But Trump took no heed, withdrawing from the accord and reinstating various layers of sanctions on Tehran.
Now, Washington’s closest partners are building mechanisms of defense against it. “This is really the first instance in which Europe is trying to stand up to the coercive economic power the U.S. is wielding,” Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, the founder of the Europe-Iran Forum, said in a phone call with reporters hosted by the European Leadership Network, a think tank in London. Läs artikel