No more sanction waivers for Iranian oil purchases, says US

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference to announce the Trump administration's plan to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organization," at the US State Department in Washington. File picture: Patrick Semansky/AP

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a news conference to announce the Trump administration's plan to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organization," at the US State Department in Washington. File picture: Patrick Semansky/AP

Published Apr 22, 2019

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Washington - The United States said on Monday it will not

extend waivers to eight countries that have been allowed to buy oil

from Iran despite US sanctions that went into effect in November.

The White House said the move is "intended to bring Iran's oil

exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue."

The eight countries affected are China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan,

South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. They were granted a six-month waiver

in November allowing them to continue importing Iranian oil. Monday's

announcement means that period will not be extended beyond its May 2

expiration.

The sanctions are part of a pressure campaign against Iran, the

country that US President Donald Trump sees as behind the most

intractable problems in the Middle East. They were imposed in

November after Trump decided unilaterally to withdraw the US from the

2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated and signed with Iran by the US,

Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany.

The agreement, which Iran and the other countries continue to abide,

places strict limits on Iran's nuclear programme to prevent the

country from building nuclear weapons. Iran agreed to the deal in

exchange for the lifting of previously imposed sanctions.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US sanctions that took

effect in November have deprived Iran of billions of dollars it would

have used to fund terrorist organizations, develop missiles and back

rebels in Yemen.

Pompeo told reporters at the State Department that any country that

tries to get around the sanctions will find that "the risks are

simply not going to be worth the benefits."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision,

saying it is "of great importance for increasing pressure on the

Iranian terror regime."

In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu added: "We stand by

the United States' determination against the Iranian aggression and

this is the right way to stop it."

When the six-month waivers were granted in November, Pompeo justified

them by saying that the US was looking "to ensure a well-supplied oil

market." On Monday, he said steps were taken to ensure market

stability before the decision not to extend the waivers.

dpa

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