US snubs EU call

Washington will not budge on its decision to impose fresh sanctions on corporations operating in Iran, despite a European request for exemption, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

"International companies active in Iran face the threat of US sanctions within weeks after Washington rebuffed a high-level European plea to exempt crucial industries to help keep a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran alive," the paper reported.

France, Britain, Germany and the European Union had on June 6 sent US President Donald Trump's administration a joint official request for their companies to be exempt from the fresh US sanctions on Iran.

The plea had come as European leaders scrambled to save the hard-fought deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015 under which Tehran agreed to limit its nuclear capacities in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions.

Trump announced he was abandoning the deal in May -- paving the way for new sanctions on the Islamic republic and punitive measures for those who trade with it.

In a formal letter, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin refused to grant the European powers the waiver they had asked for, the Financial Times reported, citing diplomats.

Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei has called for better ties with the world -- though not with the United States, according his official website yesterday.

In February, Khamenei surprised observers by saying that Iran now prioritised ties with the East over the West -- reflecting the much stronger ties it has developed with Russia and China in recent years.