The White House confirmed on Friday 2 November that the reimposition of sanctions against Iran will go ahead on Monday 5 November, but stopped short of an immediate, blanket ban on Iranian oil exports.
In an instance of pragmatism deviating from rhetoric, the Trump administration announced a temporary waiver allowing eight countries to continue importing Iranian petroleum products for a transitional, six-month period in order to ease the pressure on their energy supply chains.
During that time, importing countries will be able to buy Iranian oil, but must deposit Iran’s revenue in an escrow account that Iran will only be able to use for a restricted range of humanitarian purchases.
The purported list of countries includes US allies Turkey, Italy, India, Japan and South Korea.
All of the exempted countries, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted, had made efforts to eliminate their imports, but could not complete the task by Monday.
The US government previously issued a list of 12 demands that Iran must meet to get the sanctions lifted that include an end to its engagements in the Syrian conflict and a halt to its missile development.
The sanctions will curb business with Iran’s energy, finance and shipping sectors, and are “aimed at fundamentally altering the behaviour of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, according to Pompeo.
“Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented outlaw activities and behave as a normal country,” he stated.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin added that 700 more Iranian companies and people would be added to the sanctions rolls, including more than 300 that had not been included under previous sanctions.
Some Iranian banks will remain connected to Swift, but US regulators have warned the Belgium-based service that it will face penalties if US regulators ascertain that any transactions breach the sanctions.
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