Immediately after the U.S. Treasury and State Departments announced details of the snap back of “full sanctions” that were re-imposed Monday on Iran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also confirmed in a separate statement that eight countries had been granted waivers for the oil section of those sanctions.
China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey all received a six-month-long waiver in order to allow those countries enough time to reduce their imports from Iran down to zero.
Pompeo said the move ensures there will be no disruption in the global oil market.
Proceeds from sales earned during the period are to be held in escrow in order to ensure the revenue is spent solely on humanitarian and other non-sanctioned activities, he said.
In addition, the State Department said that international activities at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power station, its Fordow enrichment plant and at the Arak heavy water reactor, will all be allowed to continue, “under the strictest security to ensure transparency and maintain constraints on Iran.”
The State Department said the move enhances its ability “to reduce the proliferation risks at Arak, maintain safe oversight of operations at Bushehr, limit Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and prevent the regime from reconstituting sites such as Fordow for proliferation-sensitive purposes,” according to a fact sheet released Monday afternoon.
The waivers are considered temporary and conditional upon the cooperation of the various stakeholders, the fact sheet said.
No time frame was specified for the waivers.
In response, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that his country is facing an “economic war situation,” according to the Associated Press, referring to the Trump administration as “a bullying enemy.”
