Transferring money to Iran is practically impossible from the Netherlands. Dutch banks do not allow this. A course of action that particularly disadvantages the 50,000 Iranian residents in the Netherlands. Moreover, they have to answer to the slightest suspicion of financial contact with the motherland, and are sometimes not allowed to open a business account. Is the action of the Dutch banks legal? At least not in spirit. Are the aggrieved then collateral damage in a sanctions regime that should lead to a more decent regime in Tehran? For the time being, it does not look like that at all. The victims seem to be mainly victims of business interests, symbol politics and – above all – a toothless EU.
For this article in Reporter Online, Yvo Amar was interviewed by Carl Stellweg about the European ‘Blocking Statute’ and how the Dutch banks can evade it so easily.
Read the full article here (Dutch read only).