America will not increase discount on petroleum purchase from Russia-Iran, Finance Minister Scott Besant announced
Washington. The US will not extend the period of exemption given for the purchase of oil and petroleum products from Russia and Iran. America’s Finance Minister Scott Besant said this while talking to the Associated Press (AP). He said, “Not for the Iranians… We have imposed a blockade and there is no oil coming out. We think in the next two-three days they will have to start the process of shutting down their production, which will be very bad for their oil wells.”
He said that he cannot even imagine increasing the exemption given for purchasing petroleum products from Russia once again. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control issued general licenses in March allowing all transactions involving Russian and Iranian oil that had been loaded onto ships by April 11 and April 19, respectively.
NBC News had said in its report on March 21 that Iran could earn more than $14 billion from this. Mr. Besant, however, later dismissed this estimate as “a fabrication”. The US Treasury Department had said on April 14 that it would allow the exemption from sanctions on Iran’s oil to expire.
The department had issued a general license on April 17 for the sale of Russian oil that had been loaded onto ships by April 17. This license will remain valid till May 16. It is noteworthy that on February 28, America and Israel had attacked many targets including Iran’s capital Tehran, due to which there was loss of life and property and civilians were also injured.
In response, Iran attacked Israeli territory and US military bases in West Asia. Due to this increasing tension, the movement of ships in the ‘Strait of Hormuz’ has almost come to a standstill. The strait is a vital route for oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Persian Gulf countries to markets around the world. Due to stoppage of traffic here, fuel prices have increased rapidly.
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