“Rouhani has been under intense domestic political pressure to produce some kind of counter-measure following the US withdrawal.
Tehran has lost patience with Europe’s efforts to create a new viable financial mechanism that would allow European firms to continue trading items such as medicines and humanitarian goods with Iran and circumvent US secondary sanctions.
Zarif separately issued his own warning from Moscow, where has been meeting his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. “After a year of patience, Iran stops measures that [the] US has made impossible to continue,” he tweeted. World powers have “a narrowing window to reverse this”.
The Trump administration has repeatedly warned European multinationals they will face swingeing US Treasury fines if they trade with Iran and try to operate in the US market. Almost all large European firms have withdrawn from the Iranian market, depressing the economy still further.”