Over the past few weeks, Iran has repeatedly sought (even demanded) EU support to offset renewed U.S. sanctions that will be imposed on the oil producing country. In fact, not only did Iran ask for EU help, it said it wanted some solutions by the end of this month – which is now here. Tehran wants the EU to help safeguard its oil export revenues, its most important source of income, by enlisting the help of European central banks. Consequently, the EU has been considering bypassing the U.S. financial system by handling oil purchases from Iran in euros instead of U.S. dollars, albeit without the aid of commercial banks. For this to happen, however, it wants central banks in Europe to transfer large sums of euros to the Iranian central bank. Yet, the idea sounds easier than it is to implement, while the European Commission has already indicated its […]