Washington: The Donald Trump administration on Friday announced the reimposition of all US sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. The sanctions cover Iran’s shipping, financial and energy sectors. They’re the second batch of penalties reimposed since Trump withdrew from the deal in May.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US was expected to issue eight exemptions to countries importing Iranian oil. Pompeo said the exemptions would be temporary.
The sanctions that will come into force from Monday penalise countries that don’t stop importing Iranian oil and foreign companies that do business with blacklisted Iranian entities.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Belgian-based financial messaging service SWIFT could be hit with U.S. sanctions if it provides services to Iranian financial institutions that Washington blacklists. “SWIFT is no different than any other entity,” Mnuchin told reporters on a conference call. “We have advised SWIFT that it must disconnect any Iranian financial institutions that we designate as soon as technologically feasible to avoid sanctions exposure.”
Oil prices fell on Friday, heading for a weekly loss of more than 6%, following reports that Washington has granted several countries sanctions waivers allowing them to continue to import Iranian crude.
Brent crude oil was down 10 cents a barrel at $72.79. The contract has fallen by almost 12% since the beginning of October, when it reached its highest since 2014. US light crude weakened by 30 cents to $63.39, down more than 13% since hitting four-year highs a month ago.
Investors are concerned about the prospects for oil supply when new US sanctions are implemented against Iran on Monday.
The impending oil sanctions have been a US tool to pressure Iran in the six months since President Donald Trump backed out of the 2015 nuclear deal between the Middle East nation and six world powers, saying it didn’t do enough to constrain the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme or curb what the US calls other “malign activity” in the region.