A report by POLITICO that the State Department may plan to grant new waivers to China allowing for current sanctions on Iranian oil to be bypassed. The current US maximum-pressure policy has been to end all waivers and insist on zero importation of Iranian oil by all of its trade partners. However, this tactic may have reached the limits of what US soft pressure can coerce other nations to accept. China has received Iranian oil tankers as recently as June, despite the Trump administration ending sanctions waivers in May. Likewise,…
On Friday, a statement from the European Union announced that a new system to bypass US sanctions on trade with Iran had been launched. INSTEX, the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, is now operational for all member states of the EU. The system functions as a clearing house for trade between EU businesses and Iran, allowing trade to be conducted without direct flow of euros to Iran or rials to the EU. Initially, INSTEX will only process trade in non-sanctioned goods such as food and medical supplies. However, future…