U.S. sanctions on Iran and the Blocking Regulation.

On May eight, 2018, President Donald Trump revoked the U.S. accession from the Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA), painstakingly reached in August 2015 by the Group of 5+1 and entered into force in January 2016.

The agreement, signed by the five veto-wielding states at the United Nations (the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, China plus Germany) and promoted by the European Union, sanctioned the suspension of one of the most sophisticated sanctions systems adopted against a sovereign state in exchange, on the part of the Tehran government, for the dismantling of the nuclear development plan pursued by the latter since the 2000s.

Juxtaposed with the revocation of membership, the United States announced the reintroduction of so-called secondary economic sanctions, i.e., those sanctions that affect non-U.S. physical and legal entities (and thus also European companies) that promote or maintain business relations with Iran in certain economic sectors.

The intent of this article è to provide an overview of the U.S. sanctions system toward Iran and the legal consequences it entails for European and Italian traders, who have relations with the Middle Eastern country.