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Press TV has conducted an interview with Kaveh Afrasiabi, author and political scientist from Boston, about France warning the US against fining a French bank for violation of US sanctions against some countries including Iran.

Press TV: Let’s look at the bigger picture here, if you can tell us is this the fact that these US-led sanctions perhaps are not being adhered to by countries like France because well, they were not legal in the framework of international law, they were US-led and at the same time countries are suffering economically from it, in this case in point France and therefore they are not going along with it anymore?

Afrasiabi: Exactly and this particular issue is symptomatic of a larger problem or a malady which goes to the heart of the illegal sanction regime that is crumbling before our eyes and the charade of unity of purpose among the Western nations has now clearly turned into an open wound reflected in the escalation of rhetoric by the French president that he is going to link this issue of US fine on a French bank to the France-US free trade talks.

So there is a dramatic evolution or escalation of this turning it into a mini crisis in US-France relations or you might say US-European Union relations and that underscores the need for a speedy resolution of the Iranian nuclear standoff because the longer it lasts, the deeper this problem between United States and its Western allies and other countries that are eager to renew trade relations with Iran will grow exponentially and this is to the detriment of the United States own interest.

Press TV: So if the US was to go ahead and fine the BNP Paribas, 7 billion Euros is what we have, that is the biggest fine when you take Obama’s presidency up to now to the 21 other banks that have violated these sanctions. Do you think then the relationship is going to be jeopardized?

Afrasiabi: The mere fact that you have open public criticism of the US by the highest French authorities reflects this growing problem that will grow worse if the US indeed acts upon its threat and France retaliates in some fashion.

So you know I think the ball is in the US [court] and President Obama will likely try to deflect the matter and to find a way out, but given the fact that the US Treasury Department has already targeted this bank and has levied the fine, [there is] no exit situation.

So I do not see an easy way out for either side and the best remedy is indeed reasonable resolution of the Iranian nuclear scheduled talks in middle of June and hopefully the parties will be able to meet the July 20 deadline to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement.