The Europeans' opposition to Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran deal and the workarounds that they're developing to evade forthcoming American sanctions have sparked talk of a developing Transatlantic rift.
The Iranian Ambassador to Germany announced that his country is working with its continental partners to establish a bank of transactions for facilitating Euro-denominated bilateral trade that could bypass the US' unilateral restrictions on economic activity with the Islamic Republic. The EU members of the P5+1 — meaning the UK, France, and Germany — have all come out against Trump's move to withdraw from the accord, and each of these countries has their own envisioned economic interests in Iran that they don't want to sacrifice for the sake of politically supporting their NATO ally.
For however much some of the Europeans might want to thumb their nose at America and flout its new anti-Iranian sanctions regime, it can be assured that Washington will use all means at its disposal in order to get them to comply, just as it's attempting to do with others across the world who continue to trade with Russia and buy its military wares in spite of the US' prohibitions against this. Bearing in mind that “containing” Iran has always been part of Trump's publicly proclaimed strategy to “Make America Great Again” unlike the anti-Russian actions that his “deep state” pressured him…
