US Says to Consider Requests for Waivers from Iran Oil Sanctions
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The United States will consider requests from some countries to be exempted from sanctions it will put in effect in November to prevent Iran from exporting oil, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
“There will be a handful of countries that come to the United States and ask for relief from that. We’ll consider it,” Pompeo said according to the text of an interview in Abu Dhabi with Sky News Arabia released by the US State Department.
He did not name any countries.
On July 2, US President Donald Trump said he would not exempt European companies from Iran-related sanctions, suggesting that EU demands for waivers would be ignored.
Trump also accused the EU of being “possibly as bad as China” when it came to the way the European bloc traded with America. Singling out Germany and Scotland, Trump repeated his mantra that “they treat us very badly”.
He also rejected the notion that mounting tension with Europe made it harder to deal with China-related trade issues.
Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the Iran nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.
Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.