From The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. is ending waivers for countries to import Iranian oil, part of the Trump administration’s effort to deprive Iran of export revenue, the White House said Monday.
The U.S. had previously granted eight countries a 180-day waiver to continue to buy Iranian crude despite U.S. sanctions, provided that each took steps to reduce purchases and move toward ending imports. The deadline for renewing the waivers was set to fall on May 2.
“The Trump Administration and our allies are determined to sustain and expand the maximum economic pressure campaign against Iran to end the regime’s destabilizing activity threatening the United States, our partners and allies, and security in the Middle East,” the White House said.
China, India and Turkey were among Iran’s top customers and had been expecting to receive renewed waivers. It wasn’t immediately clear whether all imports of Iranian oil would be subject to sanctions after the deadline, or whether the Trump administration would allow a further grace period via another mechanism.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday the U.S. would allow no significant reduction exceptions after the current round expires May 2, but he declined to rule out the possibility of limited exemptions.
Mr. Pompeo said the U.S. has made clear to Iran’s trading partners that sanctions will be applied, but he didn’t want to “foreclose the possibility” that “incidental” transactions would be permitted.
“We’ve always been very fair about this…but there will be no waivers that extend beyond the first of May,” he said.
Department officials didn’t clarify whether countries would be subject to sanctions upon expiration of the waivers for taking delivery of oil purchased while they remained in effect.
Mr. Pompeo said the Trump administration’s goal was to deprive Iran of the funding it used to support its expansionist activities in the Middle East and that sanctions had deprived the regime of more than $10 billion in oil sales.
China said it opposes U.S. unilateral sanctions. “China-Iran cooperation is open, transparent and in accordance with law, it should be respected,” said Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry.
Earlier this month, the State Department’s top envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, said that three jurisdictions out of the eight that received oil waivers last year had already moved to zero imports.
Mr. Hook didn’t name them, but analysts that study the oil market have said Italy, Greece and Taiwan have halted imports this year.
U.S. sanctions targeting oil exports from Iran and Venezuela have tightened global supply and driven prices higher this year. Markets also are watching the latest outbreak of chaos in Libya, which has been pumping more than 1.2 million barrels of oil a day.
The uncertainty has helped cause the global benchmark oil price to rally to its highest levels in nearly six months, surging above $74 a barrel on Sunday evening.
The U.S., Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, “are committed to ensuring that global oil markets remain adequately supplied,” the White House said. “We have agreed to take timely action to assure that global demand is met as all Iranian oil is removed from the market.”
Khalid al-Falih, the Saudi minister of energy, said Monday the kingdom is monitoring the U.S. announcement’s effects of the global oil market and would work with other producing countries to ensure market stability.
Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said the administration’s move “will make the United States and global economy increasingly dependent on the Saudi and U.A.E. autocracies that are driving Trump’s escalation and have promised to backfill the oil gap that results.”
While U.S. sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy and strained the government’s budget, they haven’t led Tehran to pull back from its military role in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad or scale back its paramilitary role in the region, both U.S. goals.
Iran is on track to be a foreign-policy issue in the lead-up to next year’s U.S. presidential election, with some Democratic candidates pledging to return to the 2015 nuclear accord. Mr. Trump withdrew from the pact with Iran and six major powers last year, undoing the flagship foreign policy effort that marked his predecessor’s administration.
The decision to end oil waivers comes after months of pressure by Republican hawks. Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) on Monday praised the decision in a statement calling for the Trump administration to take further steps to curb Iran’s finances.
“The administration should also take the long overdue step of ending civil-nuclear waivers, which allow the Iranians to continue nuclear-related work,” Mr. Cruz said in a statement.
The Trump administration has outlined 12 demands of Iran that include requiring Tehran to give up its right to enrich uranium, which it retained under the 2015 agreement; cease its support for militant groups such as Hamas; and stop issuing threats against Israel.
Mr. Pompeo said on Monday the U.S. would be open to talks with Iran once the country’s leaders agreed to meet the list of demands.
“If they’re prepared to come to the table…fantastic,” Mr. Pompeo said.
Iran’s leaders have said they have no interest in negotiating with the Trump administration on those demands.
