Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

US seeks to reduce Iranian oil revenues to zero


Tue 03 Jul 2018 | 02:13 AM
Mohamed Wadie

The United States is trying hard to reduce Iran’s oil revenue to zero, to force its leaders' behavior, a senior State Department official said Monday.

"Our goal with respect to the energy sanctions, our goal is to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by reducing to zero its revenue from crude oil sales," Brian Hook told reporters.

"We are not looking to grant licenses or waivers because doing so would substantially reduce pressure on Iran, and this is a campaign of imposing pressure," Hook said. "We are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on case by case basis, but as with our other sanctions we are not looking to grant waivers or licenses."

After the remarks, U.S. crude jumped more than 8 percent and closed at more than $74 a barrel — a first since November 2014.