US agrees to temporarily allow 8 countries to buy Iran oil after sanctions

Recognising a significant reduction in imports of oil from Persian Gulf nation, Pompeo said the US is willing to issue a temporary exemption to the eight jurisdictions.

Sanctions would uphold until Iran meets demands that include ending support for terrorism, ending military engagement in Syria and completely halting its nuclear and ballistic missile programme, said Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin who made the announcement.

Pompeo said the US would allow the eight nations to import Iranian oil but only at much lower levels after the reimposition of sanctions on Monday.

Sanctions would penalise countries which do not put an end to importing Iranian oil as well as foreign companies that do business with blacklisted Iranian firms.

The States would also demand the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), global financial network, to stop supporting Iranian banks as part of enforcing sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme and alleged support for terrorism.

Initially, US had said it wanted countries including India to completely halt oil purchases from Iran by November 4 when its full sanctions against Tehran come into force. India is the second biggest purchaser of Iranian oil after China and is willing to restrict its monthly purchase to 1.25 million tonnes or 15 million tonnes in a year (300,000 barrels per day), down from 22.6 million tonnes (452,000 barrels per day) bought in 2017-18 financial year, sources in New Delhi said, as quoted by PTI.

In May, President Donald Trump had pulled US out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) terming it as disastrous”. Under the Obama-era deal, involving five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, Iran agreed to stop its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

Thereafter, Trump signed fresh sanctions against Iran and warned countries against any cooperation with Tehran over its controversial nuclear weapons programme.

Iran has dismissed these charges and continues to keep its stand that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

“The United States is in the midst of an internal process to consider significant reduction exceptions for individual countries, but that is only on a case-by-case basis,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Paladino said on Thursday.

He was responding to questions on the news reports from South Korea and India that they could get waivers from the US on the punitive Iranian sanctions.

(With PTI inputs)