Commentary: As U.S. sanctions loom, can Iran nuclear deal still be saved? | Reuters

Commentary: As U.S. sanctions loom, can Iran nuclear deal still be saved? | Reuters:

The exodus of international firms from Iran is accelerating as the August deadline for the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions against Tehran approaches. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the multinational Joint Comprehensive Place of Action, which lifted international sanctions against Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, has left the 2015 accord hanging dangerously in the balance.

On July 7, French shipping giant CMA CGM announced its decision to leave Iran “due to the Trump administration,”  the group’s chief executive Rodolphe Saadé said. The announcement came two days after talks in Vienna between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and his counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia produced no breakthroughs. The first of its kind since Trump’s withdrawal announcement in May, the meeting was intended to provide the Islamic Republic with an economic package that would make up for its losses under U.S. sanctions.

Today, the weakened nuclear agreement confronts three possible fates: survival, abrupt death, or gradual demise.