Iran Reaches Deal With Renault Despite New U.S. Sanctions<br />TEHRAN — The French carmaker Renault signed a multimillion-dollar deal in Tehran on Monday, agreeing to raise<br />vehicle production in Iran just days after President Trump signed into law new sanctions against the country.<br />Sanctions lawyers in the United States said Renault’s decision to proceed with the joint venture indicated it was confident<br />that the nuclear deal would survive, despite the Trump administration’s threats to withdraw from it.<br />One partner, the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization, a government conglomerate known as IDRO<br />and which controls 117 companies, was long under sanctions by the United States and Europe which accused it of supporting Iran’s missile program.<br />Those sanctions were lifted under Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers last year, which allowed Renault<br />and other foreign companies, including the American plane manufacturer Boeing, to do business with the country.<br />The roughly $780 million agreement to produce as many as 150,000 additional cars a<br />year is the largest foreign auto deal in Iran’s history, state-run PressTV said.<br />Iran, an Islamic republic, is increasingly attracting foreign investors, despite restrictions imposed<br />by the United States over its missile program and its military activities in the region.
