Loghman H. Ahmedi

The EU’s economic interests and Iran’s nuclear quest

May 10, 2009, 5:35 pm | Under EU, Iran

The issue of Iran’s quest to acquire nuclear weapons is something that is occupying Western powers. Amongst these Western powers the European Union have officially had a significant role in attempting to persuade the Islamic Republic of Iran to halt its nuclear program, but in reality the EU (or at least the major powers of the EU) have major economic interests in Iran, thus making them less inclined to pressure Iran.

According to statistics from 2007, the EU is Iran’s biggest export, import and trade partner. Click here to see statistics and click here for the full report.

These numbers could be one of the explanations to the EU’s hesitation to put more pressure on Iran. The natural question that arises is, “Should the EU put its economic interests before regional and world security?”

Short-term economic interests will not be beneficial for the EU; the current level of trade with Iran would be increase dramatically if a regime change would occur, thus a more fruitful strategy would be to support the Iranian opposition to bring about change in order to protect the EU’s long term economic interests with Iran. Unfortunately that will not happen, Tehran Times reports that:

“With $5.55 billion trade, Germany is Iran’s major European trade partner and its third worldwide. Switzerland, Italy, England, and France ranked the fifth, the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth trade partners of Iran with $3.53 billion, $2.25 billion, $2.08 billion, and $2.01 billion worth of transactions respectively.”

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The EU’s economic interests and Iran’s nuclear quest

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