PARIS: Most French companies hoping to keep doing business in Iran after the US imposes new sanctions on the country will find it impossible to do so, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday.
These companies “won’t be able to stay because they need to be paid for the products they deliver to or build in Iran, and they cannot be paid because there is no sovereign and autonomous European financial institution” capable of shielding them, Le Maire told BFM television.
The new sanctions announced by US President Donald Trump in May after he pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran would punish any foreign firm operating in Iran which also does business with the US or in dollars.
“Our priority is to build independent, sovereign European financial institutions which would allow financing channels between French, Italian, German, Spanish and any other countries on the planet,” Le Maire said.
“It’s up to us Europeans to choose freely and with sovereign power who we want to do business with,” he added.
“The United States should not be the planet’s economic policeman.”
Le Maire and his EU counterparts have been trying to secure exemptions for their firms, many of which rushed back into Iran after the landmark accord curtailing Tehran’s nuclear program.
But French oil group Total and carmaker PSA have already indicated they are unlikely to stay in the country, while Renault has said it will remain despite the sanctions — though it does not sell its cars in the US.
Analysts have warned it would be nearly impossible to protect multinationals from the reach of the “extraterritorial” US measures, given the exposure of large banks to the US financial system and dollar transactions.
The first round of the new sanctions, targeting Iran’s auto and civil aviation sectors, are scheduled to go into effect on August 6.
Most French firms ‘won’t be able to stay’ in Iran: France’s finance minister
Most French firms ‘won’t be able to stay’ in Iran: France’s finance minister
Saudi surgeons train Indonesian doctors in maxillofacial, thyroid surgery
- Saudi team is embedded with a general hospital in eastern Indonesian city of Makassar
- During their stay in Indonesia, they performed free maxillofacial, thyroid surgery on 60 patients
JAKARTA: A 19-member surgical team from Saudi Arabia has trained Indonesian doctors in oral, maxillofacial and thyroid surgery under a King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center program to expand access to advanced medical procedures in eastern Indonesia.
The Saudi medics were embedded with their Indonesian colleagues at the Wahidin Sudirohusodo Central General Hospital in Makassar, South Sulawesi province.
“KSrelief’s medical team consisted of surgeons and consultants, so doctors from our hospital had the opportunity to directly observe surgical procedures done by the Saudi doctors that have never been performed here,” Aulia Yamin, spokesperson of the Makassar hospital, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“There were also in-depth discussions on diagnosis and plans for surgery for highly complex cases.”
The KSrelief team was in Indonesia in late December, during which Saudi doctors performed free maxillofacial and thyroid surgery on 60 patients, she added.
The transfer of knowledge by KSrelief also supported Indonesia’s health system transformation plan, which seeks to improve access and quality of services in all regional government hospitals, particularly in eastern Indonesia.
“Makassar is the primary transportation and health referral hub for eastern Indonesia, which means there’s a high number of cases requiring maxillofacial and thyroid surgeries,” Yamin said.
“We hope that this collaboration can continue in the future for other cases, so that more Indonesians can benefit from the program.”
The KSrelief program had also included guest lectures by the Saudi doctors, covering facial and jaw reconstruction as well as updated and new approaches to paranoid gland surgery.
“We’re really thankful to the very hard work that we saw here. The (Indonesian) team was with us day and night and throughout very long surgeries and very complex surgeries,” Prof. Basem T. Jamal, who led the KSrelief team in Makassar, said in a video statement.
“And not only was it supporting the medical effort, but there was always interest in expressing and exchanging knowledge and experiences, and it was really really, a very rich experience for all of us.”
KSrelief has conducted similar programs in other parts of Indonesia, including in Medan, North Sumatra in 2024 that focused on training Indonesian doctors in advanced cardiac procedures on adults and children.
