Iran won’t get the pariah status it deserves while Europe’s oil and gas companies evade sanctions

UANI Advisory Board Member Sir Ivor Roberts writes: "Tehran’s increasingly brutal use of lethal force to suppress a popular civil rights movement, its provision of deadly drones to Moscow for Putin’s war against Ukraine and its abhorrent execution of British-Iranian Alireza Akbari have convinced most Western countries that this is no time to reopen diplomatic talks with Iran’s despotic leadership. But while our politicians treat Tehran with froideur, elements of our private sector are taking an altogether warmer approach. An undercover investigation conducted in Tehran last year revealed a wide range of European companies doing business with the Iranian oil and gas sector, flying under the radar of sanctions regimes imposed by both the US and EU. What are the consequences of this covert trade, does it matter and what should we do about it?"