Around one year after the United States decided to leave the Iran nuclear deal, the State Department announced that all countries will have to completely end their imports of Iranian oil or be subject to U.S. sanctions.
On Monday, U.S. President Trump’s administration confirmed that it was ending the temporary waivers it granted a number of countries so they could keep importing Iranian oil while avoiding sanctions imposed by the White House on the Iranian oil industry.
The five countries that were exempt from sanctions were Japan, South Korea, Turkey, China, and India. The decision not to extend the waivers, was finalised on Friday by President Donald Trump, according to the officials.
The oil sanctions waivers were granted in part to give those countries to find alternate energy sources but also to prevent a shock to global oil markets from the sudden removal of Iranian crude oil.
Also on Monday, the US offered $10 million rewards for information on the finances of the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.
This week, in a tit-for-tat move, Iran’s parliament designated all U.S. military forces as terrorists, after the U.S. outlawed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
