Trump Wins Again: Germany’s Central Bank Stops $400 Million Cash Delivery to Iran

President Donald Trump’s administration has successfully pressured Germany into putting the brakes on a $400 million bank cash transfer to Iran.

The significance of the move is that America, under Trump, reinstated sanctions against Iran. And in so doing, the message to overseas’ governments was: Choose.

Choose which country you’d rather do business with — American or Iran.

Germany, it seems, is choosing America.

From the Daily Wire:

President Trump has won another victory: Germany’s central bank has terminated a $400 million cash delivery to Iran.

Deutsche Bundesbank has previously worked with the Iranian-owned European-Iranian trade bank (EIH) to end-around sanctions the United States has placed on Iran. As Fox News reports, “The U.S. and the European Union previously sanctioned the EIH for its role in advancing Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. The sanctions on the EIH were lifted after the world powers reached an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program in 2015.”

In July, it was revealed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government was trying to circumvent the sanctions that were implemented this week. U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell urged Merkel to terminate the $400 million cash delivery.

Grenell tweeted his approval of Deutsche Bank’s actions:

We are pleased to see German businesses stopping their trade with Iran, complying with U.S. sanctions, and helping pressure the Iranian regime back to the table. We stand together to stop Iran’s malign activities.

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) August 7, 2018

The U.S. Embassy in Berlin added:

Close partnership = results. Thank you to our German counterparts for acting to stop Iran’s activities.https://t.co/fTSBD2f8Dt

— US-Botschaft Berlin (@usbotschaft) August 4, 2018

New rules to be implemented on August 25 give banks the power to block transactions if those transactions could threaten “to end important relationships with central banks and financial institutions of third countries.”