US WORKING ON IRAN SANCTIONS EXEMPTIONS

WASHINGTON: With US sanctions on Iranian crude kicking in next week, the state statement on Tuesday said the Trump administration is going through the process of considering significant reduction waivers for individual countries.

No country was named but India will be hoping to be in the mix. India is the second largest buyer of Iranian crude and faces the threat of secondary curbs, which could i nclude being blocked out of the US financial system, under renewed sanctions against Tehran, the second round of which go into effect on November 5.

The US has said it might consider exemptions and waivers on a case-by-case basis for countries that have significantly cut purchases to help them go off Iranian crude in a phased manner, to enable them to find substitute sources. But it has not announced a policy or a list of those exempted.

“The US government currently is in the middle of an internal process to consider significant reduction exemptions for individual countries,” state department spokesperson Robert Palladino told the daily briefing on Tuesday, stressing the goal was to get them to “zero”. He declined to name the countries under consideration.

Asked about I ndia and recently placed orders for oil with Iran, Palladino said, “Our strategy is to encourage zero omissions and that’s across the board. I don’t have any further specifics and I’m not prepared...to give...an analysis country by country.”

Discussions between Indian and US officials are ongoing and Brian Hook, the special US envoy on Iran sanctions, was in New Delhi in October.