美国国家公共电台 NPR Companies Face A Tough Choice After Trump Pulls Out Of Iran Nuclear Deal

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. So President Trump¹'s decision to take the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal put the U.S. at odds² with some close allies in Europe and Asia, and it gives companies like Samsung and Renault a difficult choice. They do business with Iran but now face potential sanctions if they don't stop. Here's NPR's Jim Zarroli.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE³: President Trump may have abandoned the Iran nuclear deal, but European officials have made clear they see the agreement as very much alive. Here is EU external affairs chief Federica Mogherini.

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FEDERICA MOGHERINI: The European Union will remain committed to the continued full and effective implementation⁴ of the nuclear deal.

ZARROLI: But Trump's decision leaves other countries in a difficult spot. Before the agreement was signed in 2015, the U.S. imposed secondary sanctions against overseas companies. If they did business in Iran, they couldn't do business in the U.S. Dan Newcomb is a New York attorney who specializes in sanctions law.

ZARROLI: In broad strokes, what secondary sanctions say is, Iran or the U.S., which one do you want?

ZARROLI: After the 2015 nuclear agreement, those secondary sanctions came to an end, and companies like Airbus and Siemens rushed to do business in Iran. Now, the U.S. has walked away from the agreement. In theory, those companies could stay in Iran, but if they do, national security adviser⁵ John Bolton told CNN this weekend they could face the wrath⁶ of the U.S.

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JOHN BOLTON: I think the Europeans will see that it's in their interest ultimately to come along with us.

ZARROLI: And because the U.S. is such an important part of the global economy, few big companies will want to get on its bad side. Nader Habibi is professor of Economics of the Middle East at Brandeis University.

NADER HABIBI: The European economies and Asian economies have a lot more trade with the United States. So ultimately, they cannot completely ignore U.S. demands.

ZARROLI: Take the European company Airbus. It's under contract to sell a hundred aircraft to Iran Air. But Dan Newcomb says going ahead with the sale now would present the company with an impossible choice. A portion of the parts it uses to make the planes it sells are made in the United States.

DAN NEWCOMB: They would have to strip out all the U.S. components⁷ in their airplanes. I don't know whether that's technically⁸ possible, but I think it would be very, very difficult.

ZARROLI: But whether things would actually go that far is another question. As a lawyer, Newcomb is hearing from a lot of his clients these days who want to know whether to walk away from Iran, and he essentially⁹ advises them to wait and see. After all, as the steel and aluminum¹⁰ sanctions showed, Trump has sometimes made dramatic pronouncements about policy decisions only to walk them back later on.

Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 wrath   

n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒

参考例句：

• His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
• The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。

7 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

8 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。