August 6, 2015 | Quote

Italy Gives Iran $3 Billion Line of Credit

Italy has agreed to give Iran a more than $3 billion dollar line of credit following several meetings this week between senior Iranian and Italian officials, according to Persian language reports.

Federica Guidi, Italy’s minister of economic development, told reporters after a meeting with the Iranian oil minister that Italy has agreed to lend Iran a three-billion Euro line of credit, which amounts to nearly $3.3 billion, according to reports issued by Iran’s state-controlled media.

Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned that this type of trade could prevent nations from ever reimposing sanctions on Iran should it violate past agreements.

“President Obama’s promise about the snapback sanction has no truth in it,” Ghasseminejad said. “When international companies go to Iran and commit themselves and their shareholders to long-term multi-billion dollar investments, there will be no snapback sanction mechanism.”

“It took the U.S. almost a decade to convince Europeans to leave Iran’s market, as the European companies were deeply invested in the country. Those who promise an immediate return of sanctions in future are either naïve or they are not telling the truth,” he said. “Many of the delisted companies were not sanctioned for the nuclear-related reasons and the decision to delist them is not a wise one.”

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Issues:

Iran