Just days after US President Donald Trump called for further isolation of Iran, a Norwegian solar company signed a deal Tuesday to invest 2.5 billion euros in the country over the next five years.
“Norway is fully committed to the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and this is proof that we have taken the opening very seriously, and we will see more investment very soon,” Norwegian ambassador Lars Nordrum told AFP.
He was hosting the signing at his Tehran residence between Norway’s Saga Energy (Other OTC: SAGA – news) and Iran’s Amin Energy Developers, who will work together to install two gigawatts of solar panels in multiple sites around the central desert region.
That makes it the second-largest investment deal in Iran since the 2015 nuclear deal eased global sanctions, and dwarfs the 600 megawatt solar project finalised just last month between Iran and British investment fund Quercus.
The timing was coincidental, but comes just days after Trump’s bellicose speech in which he called for further sanctions on Iran.
It underlines the challenge Washington hardliners will face in trying to convince Europeans, who have remained firmly behind the nuclear deal, to abandon their burgeoning ties with the Islamic republic.