On Tuesday, Mr Trump pulled America out of the nuclear deal with Iran, giving 90 to 180 days to the companies and foreign governments to wind-down their businesses with Iran.
Iran, however, picked a rather calm tone and gave few weeks to Europe to examine whether it would be possible to keep the deal in place without the U.S. and satisfying “Iranian requirements”, as President Rohani puts it.
Europe seems irritated by Mr Trump’s decision as if he is scarifying them for his ego. However, if it comes to sanctions, it might not be very clear whether Europe really wants to save its face.
Before the previous round of sanctions on Iran, the EU was the number one exporter to Iran. In 2011, the trade between EU and Iran reached its maximum, 27.8 billion Euro. But this figure between EU and the U.S. stood at 687 billion USD in 2016.
Despite this, Europe may need to protect the nuclear deal for the sake of being an international agreement. Otherwise any other country may feel that she can enter a deal when she wants and leaves it when she feels so.
In any case the situation will become clear in a near future.
