US Suspends Sanctions Against Iranian Oil
Iran denies agreeing to allow inspectors access to nuclear facilities.
Iranian nuclear facility. Photo: Getty Images
The US has suspended for 60 days sanctions that for decades prohibited the trade of oil and petroleum products with Iran for dollars, writes the BBC.
The US Treasury Department has issued a license, valid until August 21, allowing banking services and insurance for the production, transportation, and trade of Iranian oil and petrochemical products for dollars. This means that Iran will no longer need its complex chain of intermediaries for these purposes. From now on, oil can even be imported directly from Iran to the US.
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding, signed on August 17, contains a US commitment to lift "all types of sanctions" imposed against Iran.
Sanctions against Iran have been imposed for many years — both by the US and at a multilateral level: by the UN Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The US has committed to achieving the lifting of international sanctions as well.
By suspending its sanctions, the Trump administration took the first step toward fulfilling this commitment. In the same memorandum of understanding, point 10 states that until the final lifting of sanctions, the US Treasury commits to issuing temporary licenses for servicing the Iranian oil sector.
In a statement, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Iran, for its part, committed during the same 60 days not to block the Strait of Hormuz and to allow IAEA inspectors access.
Also on Monday, Vice President J.D. Vance told reporters that discussions about the return of IAEA inspectors to Iran "could begin as early as today," and the process itself "will at least begin this week."
However, Iran denies this. The country's Foreign Ministry told the state agency IRNA that Iran had not undertaken any new obligations in negotiations with the US, which took place on Sunday with Vance's participation. The memorandum of understanding states that everything concerning Iran's nuclear program is the subject of a final deal yet to be concluded. Interaction with IAEA inspectors will take place "within the framework of existing procedures established by parliament and the Supreme National Security Council," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai.
The IAEA has not yet commented on this issue.
Iran suspended access for the organization's inspectors to facilities that were bombed by the US and Israel during a 12-day war last summer. Within a month after that, all inspectors left the country.