No more Iran oil waivers says US aide in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI — Washington will grant no more waivers for Iranian oil after the reimposition of sanctions, the US special representative for Iran said on Saturday, underlining Washington’s push to choke off Tehran’s sources of income.

“Iran is now increasingly feeling the economic isolation that our sanctions are imposing... We do want to deny the regime revenues,” Brian Hook told a news conference in Abu Dhabi.

“Eighty percent of Iran’s revenues come from oil exports and this is [the] No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism... We want to deny this regime the money it needs,” Hook said.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have increased since May, when US President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, saying the accord was flawed in Tehran’s favor, and reintroduced sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the pact.

“We want a new and better deal with Iran but in that process, we are denying the Iranian regime billions and billions of dollars and they are facing a liquidity crisis,” Hook said.

Hook said Washington was pleased with China cutting its oil imports from Iran, and that he expected much deeper reductions in Iranian oil exports. “We are just getting started,” he said. — Reuters