New US sanctions against Iran come into force

MWashington.- United States Monday reinstated sanctions against the Iranian oil and financial sectors, which had been lifted by Barack Obama, marking the withdrawal of the 2015 nuclear agreement announced in May by the president Donald Trump.

Iran has problems, "the US president said Sunday, when I took office just before Iran was believed to dominate the Middle East or to do so in less than a few years, very quickly. do not talk about it anymore.

These measures will directly affect Asian or European companies that continue to import oil from Tehran, or maintain commercial relations with Iranian banks.

Although the United States has guaranteed temporary exemptions to eight countries to continue to import crude from the Islamic Republic, including Turkey and possibly China and India. The list will be announced Monday.

This repeal regime is similar to that practiced by the United States between 2012 and 2015, before the 2015 nuclear deal under the Barack Obama government. At that time, China, Turkey, North Korea, Japan and Taiwan were not subject to sanctions, particularly because they were gradually reducing their imports of Iranian crude. Years later, the Trump administration repeated the same justification.

A handful of countries have already reduced their crude imports and need a little more time to reach zero, we will give them this time, said US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo, in an interview with Fox Sunday.

Regarding the financial sanctions, he reiterated that 600 Iranian people and entities would be blacklisted, as well as those that had already been withdrawn after the conclusion of the 2015 agreement.

The goal is "to force the Iranian regime to change its behavior".

Secretary of the Treasury of the United States Steven Mnuchin he said last week that the United States wanted to disconnect Iran from the international banking circuit Quick, the backbone of the global financial system, as it was from 2012 to 2016.

Several US conservative lawmakers are asking for it, but Pompeo has not confirmed that steps would be taken to force Swift, an institution under Belgian law.

Iranian banks that have a punishable behavior will be punished by the Treasury Department, last point, simply said the Secretary of State.

In Iran, the return of sanctions is interpreted because the United States does not keep its word.

Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, denounced these measures on Saturday, saying Trump had "discredited" the prestige and democracy of the United States.

The European Union has adopted mechanisms allowing its multinationals to remain in Iran, but all indications are that the sanctions will have a deterrent effect. Airbus and Total have already announced their retirement.

On August 7th, Washington set up a first train of sanctions that led European carmakers to Daimler and PSA leave Iran.

Oil exports, which account for 40 percent of the state's Iranian revenue according to the World Bank, rose from 2.5 million barrels per day to 1.6 million barrels in September.

To continue selling their crude oil, Iranian tankers have turned off their transponders to avoid detection, but the satellites are following them.

The first Iranian oil market is Chinese, followed by the European Union, India and Turkey. Japan and South Korea reduced their imports to almost zero.

Donald Trump is convinced that the economic pressure will force the Iranians to accept their conditions for a new permanent nuclear agreement, the 2015 text establishing only conditions for 10 or 15 years.

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