BERLIN, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Germany's second largest lender DZ Bank announced on Friday that it will suspend all financial transactions with Iran starting from July 1, as U.S. exit from the Iran nuclear deal clouded over all businesses with the Middle East country.
"We will completely suspend our foreign payment transactions related to Iran starting July 1," a spokesman for the Frankfurt-based bank said.
DZ Bank is the central institution of Volks-, and Raiffeisenbanken. With more than 1,000 co-operative banks and their 12,000 branch offices, it is the second largest bank by asset in Germany.
It's the first financial institution in Germany which has announced to halt businesses with Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the historical nuclear deal sealed in 2015 and decided to reinstate sanctions against Iran.
Uncertainties among German businesses rose, given that the White House national security advisor John Bolton said "it's possible" that European companies doing business with Iran would be subject to sanctions.
