By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. will allow Iran to immediately begin selling oil and fuel under the memorandum of understanding the two sides reached to end the war, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
The provision for waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales takes effect once the agreement is signed this week and also covers services including banking, transportation and insurance to facilitate the sales, the source said.
The U.S. official said the agreement has conditions.
“This is a performance-based agreement,” the person said on condition of anonymity. “Iran can only access any benefits of the MOU if they abide by all of the points they agreed to – including no nuclear weapon, neutralizing its enriched material, and not interfering with the free flow of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The administration of President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions on the OPEC member in 2018 over Tehran’s nuclear program and support of militant groups across the Middle East. Iran has always said its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.
Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert and managing principal at Obsidian Risk Advisors, called the move a “multibillion-dollar concession to Iran.”
“After months of blockade pressures, Washington has chosen to provide Tehran with an irreversible financial benefit,” Erickson said.
The U.S. military blockaded Iranian oil from coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally flows. Iran effectively shut the strait after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.
Erickson said Iran has more than 100 million barrels of oil in storage and on tankers that could be easily sold, with more than 60 million barrels of that outside the U.S. blockade. The world uses about 100 million barrels of oil a day.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that the final draft of the memorandum of understanding with the U.S. waives oil sanctions on Iran for a specific period, allowing Tehran to sell oil and receive revenue. Following a final agreement, all U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Iran would be lifted according to an agreed timetable, the draft said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the deal would immediately allow Iran to sell oil following its signing.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington, Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis, Caitlin Webber, Alexandra Hudson and Nia Williams)
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