Forbes: "Reasons for international companies do not cooperate with Iran"

The International analytical publication Counterpunch writes about the future cooperation between Russia and Iran in the reconstruction of the historical heritage of Syria. The Islamic Republic of Iran announced this week that it is ready to take part in reconstruction of the archaeological sites, which were destroyed by terrorists in Palmyra. Along with Tehran, Moscow also made a commitment to preserve the world's cultural heritage, a huge part of which is located in the Syrian Arab Republic. In addition to the restoration of historic buildings, the country will also prevent further looting of the Syrian archeological sites.

More than 100 thousand cultural sites of global importance, including 4500 archaeological sites, 9 of which are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, are under control of ISIS. Profits from the illegal sale of Islamic antiquities are approximately $2 million per month. According to the reports, the stolen artifacts are sold in Turkey later via numerous specialized Internet resources.

The Russian and Iranian initiative to save the cultural heritage of Syria will not only allow the Islamists to restore destroyed Palmyra, but also will oppose the development of the economic infrastructure of ISIS. If the illegal trade of the Syrian artifacts will be discontinued, the so-called Islamic State will be deprived of one of its sources of funding, and, accordingly, it will increase the likelihood of eliminating the terrorist threat in the region as a whole. Interaction between Moscow and Tehran is crucial in the volatile situation in Syria, and in addition, it reiterates that the efforts of two such powerful states are the guarantor of peace in the Middle East region.

The business publication Forbes writes about the reasons why international companies are afraid to cooperate with Iran. Despite the fact that the majority of sanctions against Iran were lifted at the beginning of this year, the expected peak of international investment has not yet started. Delegations from Asia and Europe are very interested in establishing economic relations with Iran, but there are several reasons hindering international companies from financial relations with Tehran.

The first obstacle is the absence of bank bonds. International companies wishing to do business in Iran should be able to conduct financial transactions, and for that we need the banks. The Iranian banks were allowed to return to the international banking system SWIFT. However, many banks were forbidden from cooperating with Iran for several years due to the fact that they tried to circumvent the Western sanctions. As a result, most European banks cannot take advantage of the privileges of the post-sanctions regime at the moment.

The second reason is that some sanctions are still preserved. The restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program, cancelled in January of this year, were only one element in a dense network of embargo and trade restrictions on Iran. The most problematic are the US restrictions continuing regarding the Islamic Republic.

There is also a political reason that international companies are wary of investing in Iran. There are presidential elections both in the United States and Iran on the horizon, that have a political element of risk for the potential partners. The majority of the presidential candidates have promised to cancel the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, and that's why many European and Asian partners of Iran are not hurrying to develop the business in the Republic until it becomes clear who will take the post of the president of America.

Thus, due to a number of economic and political reasons Iran's return to the international arena is more complicated, but somehow it continues at the expense of the confident and effective foreign policy of the Iranian leadership.