Iran Regime’s Failure to Circumvent U.S. Sanctions by Selling Oil to Private Buyers

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By Mahmoud Hakamian

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would be exiting the 2015 nuclear deal. He explained that the nuclear threat still existed despite the nuclear agreement and said he believed it would even guaranteed a nuclear arms race in the region.

The U.S. State Department said that it expects all foreign countries to reduce their imports of Iranian oil to zero by November.

President Trump’s administration has been cracking down on the Iranian regime, applying maximum economic pressure to cut it off from the funds that it uses to spread terrorism across the region and beyond.

The Iranian regime has tried to counter the U.S. sanctions on its oil trade. It offered one million barrels of oil at a base price of just $79.16 per barrel to private buyers on Iran’s energy index IRENEX. Iran eventually dropped the offer to $74.85 per barrel for 280,000 of the one million barrels that were on offer.

The identity of the buyer is unknown and the only details given was that it was a group of private companies that made the offer via several brokerages.

The complete failure on Iran’s behalf was a desperate attempt to circumvent the oil sanctions that President Trump renewed. These particular sanctions are to take effect on November 4th and there is no doubt that the Iranian regime will suffer from the consequences.

Earlier this year, the Iran regime’s vice president Eshaq Jahangiri suggested that selling oil on the energy exchange once a week would be a good tactic to counteract the United States’ efforts to end Iran’s oil exports. The Iranian regime believes that selling its oil to private buyers would make it more difficult for the United States to monitor Iran’s sales of oil, and therefore prevents the United States from stopping sales.

The Iranian regime believes that it can pull back from the extreme economic pressure that it is being put under, but it is very clear for everyone to see that it is not possible. The economy is already in a state of disaster and the Rial – the country’s national currency – has been losing more and more value.

The people of Iran are the ones that are suffering the most because of the regime’s mismanagement and corruption and they are the ones that are left to deal with the consequences. Their savings are worth less and less and they are having to pay more and more for the most basic of commodities.

It is no wonder that the people have been demonstrating and protesting since the end of last year. They are loud and clear in their calls for regime change and it is certain that the regime will collapse soon.

Instead of concentrating on improving the country’s economy and making the situation better, the Iranian regime is burying its head in the sand and concentrating on what is irrelevant. For example, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has unveiled a ridiculous and laughable plan for Iran to be a world leader in science, technology and innovation by 2065!

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