Europe should look to bypass U.S. payment systems by creating its own financial channels, a European monetary fund and international bank transfer system like SWIFT, Germany's foreign minister has said. Writing in the German Handelsblatt newspaper, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for the setting up of independent payment channels, largely as a way for European businesses to avoid U.S. sanctions targeting any firms -- whether inside or outside the U.S. – that do business with Iran. "As Europeans, we have clearly told the Americans that we consider phasing out the nuclear deal with Iran a mistake.," Maas said in an op-ed for Handelsblatt on Wednesday. "Meanwhile, first U.S. sanctions are back in force. In this situation, it is of strategic importance that we clearly tell Washington: we want to work together. But we will not let you act over our heads. Therefore, it was right to protect European companies from legal sanctions," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a two-euro-coin presentation in Berlin on January 29, 2015. Tobias Schwarz | AFP | Getty Images

"It is therefore essential that we strengthen European autonomy by setting up payment channels independent of the U.S., creating a European Monetary Fund and building an independent SWIFT system. The devil is in a thousand details," he added. "But every day that the (Iran) agreement continues to exist is better than the highly explosive crisis that otherwise looms in the Middle East." While the SWIFT system oversees international bank transfers, the creation of a European monetary fund would solidify the bloc's ability to assist countries hit with economic crisis. The creation of independent financial channels would allow it and its businesses to avoid prohibitive sanctions but would likely deepen an ideological schism between the U.S. and Europe that has grown during Trump's presidency. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Wednesday that while relations with the U.S. had changed, she was not in favor of creating a new payments system. "We have some problems in our dealings with Iran, no question, on the other hand we know that on questions of terrorist financing, for example, SWIFT is very important," Reuters reported the German leader as saying.

Breaking with the past