The Largest Shipping Company in the World Stops Operations in Iran

The Danish shipping company Maersk, the largest maritime cargo carrier, announced on Thursday, May 17, that it would cease its operations in Iran due to U.S. sanctions. Søren Skou, the CEO of the company, told Reuters, "With the sanctions that the Americans are going to impose, if you have business in the U.S., you cannot work with Iran, and our volume of work in the U.S. is extensive." He added, "I do not yet have precise details on the timing, but I am sure we will stop our activities (in Iran)." The shipping company MSC, which is the second-largest in the world after Maersk, also announced on Wednesday that it would stop taking orders for Iran. Allianz Insurance, Siemens, and Total are other major European companies that have announced the cessation of their activities in Iran. While European companies are exiting Iran, EU leaders in Sofia are seeking solutions to save the JCPOA and support European companies. According to Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, medium-sized companies that do not interact with the U.S. may be able to trade with Iran. However, Reuters reports that the exit of companies from Iran has cast doubt on the EU's efforts to save the JCPOA. Macron acknowledged the problems faced by large companies in Iran, stating, "International companies that have interests in many countries make decisions based on their own interests. These companies should still have this freedom." However, as Sebastian Kurz, the Chancellor of Austria, noted, there are only "a few weeks" left to save the JCPOA, and it remains unclear whether Europe has the capacity to do so. On Wednesday, the oil company Total announced that last week's decision by Donald Trump, the President of the United States, to withdraw from the JCPOA and reinstate sanctions against Iran has posed challenges for the company's presence in the South Pars project, and Total cannot continue operations in Iran without being exempted from U.S. sanctions. This French company specifically stated that it requires necessary guarantees to avoid falling into U.S. secondary sanctions. Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran on May 8, emphasizing that the JCPOA "brought neither peace nor calm" and that the Islamic Republic continued to expand its ballistic missile program and "support for terrorism" after the JCPOA. Iran has stated that it will withdraw from the agreement if its interests are not guaranteed.