EXCELSIOR! U.S. to End Iran Oil Waivers to Drive Tehran’s Exports to Zero

promised to take on this terror regime and he has made good on his promise.

U.S. to End Iran Oil Waivers to Drive Tehran’s Exports to Zero

China, India and Turkey had been expecting to receive a renewed waiver to continue to buy Iran’s oil

By: Jessica Donati, Wall Street Journal, pril 22, 2019 4:42 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—The State Department is expected to announce the end of waivers for countries to import Iranian oil on Monday, part of the Trump administration’s effort to drive Iran’s exports to zero, people familiar with the decision said.

The U.S. had previously granted eight countries a 180-day waiver to continue to buy Iranian crude despite U.S. sanctions, provided that each took steps to reduce purchases and move toward ending imports. The deadline for renewing the waivers was set to fall on May 2.

China, India and Turkey were among Iran’s top customers and had been expecting to receive a renewed waiver to continue to buy Iran’s oil.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the decision to end oil waivers would put a complete halt to permitted exports.

A “wind down” grace period would allow certain customers to continue to receive the oil it had already purchased, or agreed to buy, two people familiar with the matter said. It wasn’t immediately clear how such a mechanism would work

“China consistently opposes U.S. unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction,” said Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, at a regular news briefing on Monday. “China-Iran cooperation is open, transparent and in accordance with law, it should be respected.”

The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The decision was earlier reported by the Washington Post.

Earlier this month, the State Department’s top envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, said that three jurisdictions out of the eight that received oil waivers last year had already moved to zero imports.

Mr. Hook didn’t name them, but analysts that study the oil market have said Italy, Greece and Taiwan have halted imports this year.

U.S. sanctions targeting oil exports from Iran and Venezuela have tightened global supply and driven prices higher this year. Markets are closely watching the latest outbreak of chaos in Libya, which has been pumping more than 1.2 million barrels of oil a day.

Libyan officials have warned that output risks dropping to zero if hostilities escalate. The uncertainty has helped cause the global benchmark oil price to rally to its highest levels in nearly six months, surging above $74 a barrel on Sunday evening.

Mr. Trump and the team led by his national security adviser, John Bolton, have pushed for a more hard-line strategy leading up to the May 2 deadline, urging a more complete push to zero out Iranian exports.