Business News

The US is lifting some sanctions against Iran’s energy sector

The U.S. has imposed some sanctions on Iran’s energy sector when a senior Biden administration official said it was evidence of Washington’s “vision of good faith”.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday said the U.S. was removing sanctions on three former Iranian government officials and two companies previously involved in Iran’s petrochemical sector, “as a result of a change in the situation or behavior of the convicts.” parties ”.

“These actions show a commitment to remove penalties if people who have been convicted change their status or behavior,” Blinken said. statement.

Oil prices briefly fell more than 2 percent after the announcement, but losses recovered quickly, as Brent crude settled 0.4 percent on a $ 72.52 a day barrel.

The decision was the first time the Biden administration has relaxed its sanctions against Iran. In 2018, Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 multi-party nuclear treaty in exchange for the release of sanctions that imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

The Trump administration continued to direct a maximum pressure a campaign against Iran that includes more than 1,000 additional sanctions against the country.

It is the administration of roads trying to re-enter the nuclear treaty and several rounds of indirect negotiations with Iran have begun in Vienna, although it has not yet made progress. Tehran has repeatedly asked Washington lifts sanctions before agreeing to reduce its nuclear program. Since the Trump administration left the deal, Iran has violated the limits of its nuclear production. raises concerns UN nuclear surveillance.

These remove The list of nationals specially nominated for U.S. Treasury Thursday included former high-ranking officials Iranian National Oil Companies and groups that supported the punished petrochemical sector. The U.S. Treasury Office for Foreign Assets Control places national security, foreign policy, and criminal policy targets on its list of individuals and entities.

A senior administration official told the Financial Times that the decision to remove some entities from the broad US penal regime was taken after a professionally executed review by Iranian institutions.

The official said the removal was not linked to efforts in talks in Vienna, which showed the US “can act in good faith”.

“Bada [the Iranians] see as proof that no sanctioned entity is allowed, then they will be right – being punished is not a life sentence, it is a punishment based on the behavior of the party, ”the official said.

“It simply came to our notice then. . . will remove the penalties when ordered “.

Swamp notes

Rana Foroohar and Edward Luce discuss the biggest issues at the intersection of money and power in U.S. politics every Monday and Friday. Sign up for the newsletter here


Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button