From left to right: German FM Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian FM
Mohammad Javad Zarif
Presstv.com
. With
American political leaders hunkered in a bitter dispute over whether to
embrace the Iran nuclear accord, the Europeans are snapping up trade
deals, pending the removal of sanctions to start full-fledged business
relationship. . European ministers and business owners are
making a beeline to Tehran in quest for new opportunities in the
country of 80 million people with a pent-up potential for a variety of
businesses. . In the US, the debate is mired in whether to kill the
deal and retain the curbs on the Islamic Republic amid a steady flow of
reports with apocalyptic warnings of doom. . This marked divergence
among close allies -- with one side stuck in the past and the other
looking into the future – shows how fast the joints of the sanctions
regime are coming apart. . Iran is currently hosting a delegation of
government ministers and business leaders from Italy. The two sides
signed a memorandum of understanding, with Italy undertaking to provide
funding and insurance for industrial, construction and infrastructure
projects worth at least 3 billion euros in Iran. . Italian
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni submitted Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's
invitation to President Hassan Rouhani to visit Rome "in the coming
weeks". . Before the Italians, French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius led a delegation of business people to redeem the lost ground,
especially in the energy and auto industries. Traders in Tehran put their carpets on show. The
highlight of the trip was France’s parting with its much-hyped hardline
position in nuclear negotiations when Fabius presented Rouhani with an
invitation to visit Paris in November. . France's main business
lobby group, the Medef, will be also sending a delegation of about 100
business leaders to Iran at the end of September. . Germans,
however, were the first Europeans to take the old trodden path to Tehran
after the conclusion of the nuclear talks. He led a delegation of heads
of the industrial gases group Linde and the chemicals firm BASF as well
as leading car makers Volkswagen and Daimler. . Officials of
Austria, Serbia, Switzerland and Azerbaijan have also beaten their way
up to Tehran in recent weeks, with Spain planning next to send a
delegation of similar caliber. . Recent opening will also solidify
Iran’s political and trade ties with Asian nations and other regional
allies, especially China and Russia and help rehabilitate the country
into the international fold.
