The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source in the Trump administration, that the United States would issue sanctions on countries that fail to cut oil imports from Iran by November 4th.
The move may be the current administration’s latest push – in the wake of America’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, last month – to place pressure on Tehran’s regime, the subject of ongoing protests by Iranians demanding change and true democracy.
“We view this as one of our top national security priorities,” a senior State Department official reportedly told the Wall Street Journal.
“We will certainly be requesting that their oil imports go to zero without question by Nov. 4th,” the official added of other countries that purchase oil from Iran.
Two weeks ago, Andrew Peek, the deputy assistant secretary of State for Iran and Iraq, reportedly said the United States was prepared to issue waivers if countries made major reductions in Iran oil imports and noted that the reductions would “probably vary from country to country.” However, the Wall Street Journal reported a different stance on Wednesday. The senior official speaking to that newspaper said Washington would not consider waivers.
The Iranian oil sanctions will also affect China and India, two of Iran’s biggest crude oil buyers.
India’s the Hindu reported that “Iran is India’s third-largest oil supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia, with Tehran having supplied 18.4 million tonnes of crude oil in the first 10 months of 2017-18 fiscal” year.
