US sanctions squeeze Iran from global markets, Israel wants more
NEW YORK: US economic sanctions against Iran have slashed the country’s crude exports and oil revenue, the US Treasury said as it vowed to keep up the pressure on Tehran to prevent the Iranian government from getting nuclear weapons.
Since the beginning of the year, the US has threatened to block certain foreign financial entities from US markets unless Iran’s major trading partners reduced their purchases of Iranian crude.
US efforts have paid off, with Iranian crude exports down to about 1 million barrels of oil a day from the about 2.4 million barrels last year, the US Treasury said.
This hit to exports is costing Iran about $5 billion (R41.6bn) a month, “forcing the Iranian government to cut its budget because of a lack of revenue”, Treasury under-secretary David Cohen said at the New York University School of Law.
“Our goal isn’t to affect their GDP growth, it’s to affect their political calculus,” added Cohen, the under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Iran denies that it is seeking nuclear weapons, saying its atomic programme is solely for peaceful purposes such as power generation and medical uses.
US sanctions were designed to crimp Tehran’s oil revenues by stopping financial institutions from conducting oil transactions with Iran’s central bank, which handles most of the country’s oil payments.
However, if countries significantly reduced their Iranian oil imports, they won a temporary reprieve from the US law.
Over a dozen countries, including Iran’s biggest oil buyers China and India, earned exemptions.
“Sanctions have effectively terminated international access banks,” said Cohen.
“Today, the Iranian government is relegated to the backwaters of the international financial system, and they know it.”
Although US sanctions have squeezed Iran from global markets, Israel has demanded that the administration of President Barack Obama take a tougher line against Iran.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has accused the administration of being too tough on Israel and not hard enough on Iran.
Cohen said the window for a diplomatic solution with Iran is not “indefinite”, but he declined to be more specific.
The Obama administration recently unveiled new sanctions that target foreign banks that handle transactions for Iranian oil or handle large transactions from the National Iranian Oil Company or Naftiran Intertrade Company, two players in Iran’s oil trade.
Citing sanctions the US has imposed on Iran, Syria and, last year, on Libya, Cohen said the strategy is “a heck of a lot better than a war”. – Reuters