On Thursday, the State Department announced that they are extending the sanctions waivers related to Iran’s civilian nuclear program for another 90 days. The waivers were set to expire next week,
The waivers allow private companies, generally companies from Russia,
China, and the European Union, to work with Iran’s civilian nuclear
program, in spite of general US policy that anything Iran-related is
subject to sanctions.
This mostly involves Iran buying fuel for ts power plant, sending waste
to Russia for reprocessing, and working on designs and improvements for
the eventually heavy water reactor at Arak. In the past, it would also
allow Iran to sell excess heavy water, though no one has been buying
that lately.
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) condemned the move in a joint statement, calling it a “lost opportunity” to further undermine the P5+1 nuclear deal that the US was previously part of.
Indeed, the civilian waives were a big part of implementing the nuclear
deal in the first place. The only reason the US hasn’t revoked them
already is that there is really no basis for doing so, as it would
ultimately mean sanctioning companies which are engaged in legal action
under a nuclear safeguards agreement.
Past time for the US to get its head screwed on straight.
Wow, on occasion the administration actually does the right thing, over Congress’ shrill protests.
“Indeed, the civilian waives were a big part of implementing the nuclear deal in the first place. The only reason the US hasn’t revoked them already is that there is really no basis for doing so, as it would ultimately mean sanctioning companies which are engaged in legal action under a nuclear safeguards agreement.”
In other words it’s meaningless. Otherwise, no effing way.
It’s just because the US can’t sanction every private company in Iran – too much paperwork even for the US bureaucrats. They have to pick and choose.
They’d rather pick on the banks because the private companies need to use financial institutions to do business across borders. This is why INSTEX was created. Unfortunately, INSTEX is a waste of time if the US starts sanctioning *any* private company because it will force other private companies to not risk being sanction.