Standard Chartered, a British bank, has found itself on the receiving end of a bluntly worded message: do business with Iran, and the US will punish you for it. Executives at the bank are not the only ones wondering: “Who are these Americans to penalise a British bank for doing business with a third country? What gives Washington the right to strong arm European regulators into supporting US foreign policy plans?” The answer: the same Americans who do not want to see Iran develop a nuclear weapons capability but who are not prepared to provoke another Middle Eastern war by dropping bombs to destroy it.
英国渣打银行(Standard Chartered)收到了一条语气强硬的讯息：只要你与伊朗进行交易，美国就将对你进行惩罚。包括该行管理层在内的很多人都不明白：“美国人凭什么对一家英国银行与第三方国家从事交易进行惩罚？是什么给了华盛顿强迫欧洲监管当局支持美国外交政策的权利？”答案是：因为这些美国人既不希望看到伊朗拥有制造核武器的能力，也不愿意炸毁伊朗核计划去引发另一场中东战争。