US ambassador calls for sanctioning EU-Iran business groups

One of the Trump administration’s leading ambassadors urged the US Treasury to sanction European groups and individuals involved in trade with Iran that had participated at a business event in Brussels.US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell wrote on Twitter on Saturday: “Sounds to me like all these people and groups should be added to the US Sanctions list. We should ensure that they don’t get to work in the US market. Iran or the US – they decide. But not both.”The ambassador included the Twitter handles of the Treasury and its spokeswoman, Monica Crowley, in his message.Widely considered US President Donald Trump’s go-to-ambassador in Europe, Grenell responded to a November 6 tweet from controversial Norwegian Ambassador to Iran Lars Nordrum, who wrote: “At [Bourse & Bazaar]‘s 6th Europe Iran Forum in [Brussels] today. Big thanks @yarbatman for bringing think tanks, businesses and officials together to discuss how to protect the JCPOA and promote business relations.”The JCPOA is an abbreviation for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal that is supposed to prevent Iran’s nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic sanctions relief.The Twitter address @yarbatman is for Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder and publisher of Bourse & Bazaar. According to Batmanghelidj’s Twitter biography, he works “on business diplomacy through publishing and events. Mostly Iran, also Uzbekistan.”The lead article on the website of Bourse & Bazaar from November 6 declares: “Europe’s Trade With Iran Is Worth Saving.”“Ambassador Grenell is evidently unaware of the longstanding general licenses that protect the activities of Bourse & Bazaar and all media and research organizations engaged in the free exchange of information about Iran,” Batmanghelidj told The Jerusalem Post. “He is also unaware that Bourse & Bazaar’s analysis is regularly consulted by US officials seeking accurate information about the Iranian economy. If he is questioning the merits of my work, I am prepared to debate those merits with him directly and publicly.”The second organization that Grenell urged to be sanctioned is the Europe-Iran Forum. According to its website, “For the last three years, the Europe-Iran Forum conference series has enabled noted European and Iranian business leaders to forge new relationships, share strategic insights, and lay the foundation for future trade and investment in Iran.”The organization held events in London (2014), Geneva (2015) and Zurich (2016). The most current entry on the website lists an advertisement for its 2017 event.Previous speakers at Europe-Iran Forum events include representatives with links to Iran’s regime. Majid Ghassemi, CEO of Bank Pasargad, and Bahram Sobhani, CEO and chairman of Mobarakeh Steel Company, both spoke. The Islamic Republic of Iran first commissioned Mobarakeh after the nation’s 1979 revolution. Mehdi Karbasian, chairman of IMIDRO, “Iran’s leading industrial conglomerate,” according to the Europe-Iran Forum, also spoke. He served as deputy minister for industry, mine and trade. Karbasian worked for the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which is currently under US sanctions.The Europe-Iran Forum’s Twitter feed states: “Annual gathering that empowers Iran’s private sector business leaders and their global partners. By @BourseBazaar in partnership with @AdamSmithEvents.”It is unclear if Norway’s ambassador, who participated in the Brussels event, was meant as a target for US Treasury sanctions in Grenell’s tweet. Nordrum has faced a wave of criticism over the last days for his intense lobbying on Twitter on behalf of EU business with Iran’s regime, at a time when the Islamic Republic has imposed violent crackdowns on civilian protesters.As of November 25, Amnesty International said Iran’s regime is responsible for the deaths of 143 people in November.The US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 because the agreement, according to the Trump administration, does not stop Iranian regime terrorism, its growing missile arsenal and its nuclear weapons ambitions.The US State Department classified the Islamic Republic of Iran as the worst state-sponsor of terrorism.