France and Germany Step In to Circumvent Iran Sanctions

A shop at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran in September. Members of the European Union are trying to establish a channel for payments to sustain trade with Iran. Photo: Vahid Salemi/Associated Press By Laurence Norman Laurence Norman The Wall Street Journal Biography Nov. 26, 2018 12:00 pm ET

BRUSSELS—France and Germany have joined forces to rescue a European effort to create a payments channel to keep trade flowing with Iran, defying U.S. attempts to take the air out of the plan, senior diplomats said.

The steps by Europe’s most powerful countries are part of their campaign to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after President Trump withdrew the U.S.

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