Source: The Wall Street Journal
U.S. officials are fanning out across the globe, privately warning international executives not to commit too much as they re-engage with Iran amid a temporary easing of sanctions.
The outreach echoes some of the public statements U.S. officials have made in recent weeks about the limited and temporary nature of the sanctions relief so far. But in recent days, senior U.S. officials have also started touring global commercial capitals—including London, Paris and Dubai—and meeting executives from specific blue-chip companies to hammer home the message.
The Western powers and Iran finalized in January an interim deal for limited sanctions relief in exchange for heightened international scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear program. The deal stretches six months through July, when the Western nations will reassess Iranian cooperation. Some areas of trade subject to the temporary relief include auto and commercial aircraft parts, petrochemical purchases and humanitarian goods, such as food and medicine.
At a meeting at the U.S. embassy in London earlier this week, Peter Harrell, the U.S. State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for threat finance and sanctions, met British and French executives-—including representatives from Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Total SA and the aircraft-engine division of Rolls-Royce PLC—to make it clear that any business now allowed with Iran must be limited to the six-month window of the deal, according to people familiar with the matter.
“The message we got is that you can’t sign any long-term commitment,” said one executive who participated in the London meeting. Spokesmen for Total, Shell and Rolls-Royce said they don’t comment on meetings held by their executives.
Meanwhile, a group of French executives were invited to the U.S. embassy in Paris Friday afternoon for a similar meeting, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Paris meeting was scheduled just ahead of the planned arrival on Monday of a delegation of dozens of French executives in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
State Department officials declined to comment on any specific meetings, but one U.S. official said Washington was “conducting outreach to the private sector globally to ensure that companies around the world understand the narrow scope of sanctions relief.” The purpose of the outreach was also to make sure executives understood “the numerous U.S. and international sanctions on Iran that remain in force,” this official said.
U.S. officials say they are worried some Western executives may not fully understand the limited nature of the easing, and want to make it clear Washington is still ready to enforce remaining sanctions aggressively. That is especially the case amid a public charm offensive by Tehran aimed at wooing Western businesses back to Iran.
Last week, Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh met Western oil and gas executives at a briefing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, mingling with Chevron Corp. and Shell among others.
“I understand that there is interest [by international companies in returning to Iran] and the Iranians are trying to play on this interest,” said David Cohen, the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, during an interview this week in Dubai.
“There has been some sense that this interim deal resulted in substantial relaxation of sanctions and that is just not the case,” he told the Journal. “I’m trying to make sure there is no misunderstanding.”
Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, could be an early barometer of Washington’s effectiveness in keeping sanctions pressure on Iran during the six months of temporary relief. Dubai is home to thousands of Iranian traders—many of whom have been concocting ways around sanctions for years. Many European and U.S. companies that have done business with Iran in the past have bases and, often, regional headquarters in Dubai.
Caught in the middle are companies that stand to gain in the current opening. Western auto and aviation firms, for instance, must tread cautiously over the next six months to both take advantage of the new opportunity and avoid running afoul of current sanctions.
In January, Renault SA said it was preparing to start sending car parts to Iran. But the auto maker is still wrangling with how to send pre-assembled car kits and getting paid for them under existing U.S. and international banking and finance sanctions, according to a Renault executive.
In an interview this week, Carlos Ghosn, who heads Renault and Nissan Motor Co. said the auto maker wasn’t in a rush to get to Iran.
“The hype about Iran is premature,” Mr. Ghosn said. “If the sanctions are not lifted, we will not go.”
