EU/IRAN/NUCLEAR/SANCTIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In a letter to senior Trump administration officials, European foreign and finance leaders this week tacitly acknowledged that their efforts to preserve the West’s nuclear deal with Iran were failing. In the letter, sent on Monday [6-4-18] to the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the European leaders cited ‘security interests’ in requesting that companies in Europe be granted an exemption from United States sanctions that would be imposed as a result of President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the pact…Without that sanctions relief, Iran has threatened to pull out of the deal. That ‘would further unsettle a region where additional conflicts would be disastrous,’ the ministers argue, asserting that the deal was ‘the best means through which we can prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,’ and that there appeared to be ‘no credible alternatives at this time.’ The letter was first reported on Wednesday [6-6-18 by The Wall Street Journal and was then obtained by The New York Times.”
-Steven Erlanger and Milan Schreuer, “Europe Asks U.S. for an Exemption From Sanctions on Iran,” The New York times online, June 6, 2018