The Guardian features a conference hosted by the Atlantic Council on the future of the Iran nuclear deal, quoting international trade compliance lawyer Adam Smith and specialist in Middle East affairs at the Congressional Research Service Kenneth Katzman:
Other countries, however, appear to have embraced the deal and Iran’s potential as a sleeping giant. “If you want to see optimism, you just go to Dubai airport at about 8am,” Adam Smith, a lawyer focused on international trade compliance, told the Atlantic Council thinktank in Washington recently. “Ten flights a day between Dubai and Tehran, all packed.
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Not everyone regards Iran as a golden egg, however, especially compared with the likes of Cuba, which is geographically and culturally closer to many Americans. Kenneth Katzman, a specialist in Middle East affairs at the Congressional Research Service, told the Atlantic Council: “The problem is the US economy is a $14tn economy. The European economy is a $14tn economy. There are not US companies that are so active in complaining why they’re being shut out and the fact the US trade ban is not being lifted and they’re not participating, with the exception of some of the energy companies. “It’s not just a big enough deal for them to risk political capital to go against criticism of the deal. Iran is very far away, it is very unfamiliar and there is a very negative perception among many corporate leaders. The memory is of the hostage crisis and all the various schisms, et cetera … This is just not something that American companies are really going to be up in arms about.”