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Rubio criticizes Trump’s waiver for China for Iran oil sanctions
by Joel Gehrke
| November 02, 2018 02:04 PM
President Trump’s decision Friday to allow China and other countries to continue importing Iranian oil despite the reimposition of sanctions drew criticism from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a prominent critic of both regimes.
“Sanctions waivers being given to key purchasers of Iranian oil, most alarmingly China, give Iran a financial reprieve and should be eliminated as soon as possible,” Rubio said in response to the administration's announcement of the waivers.
Rubio, a Republican member of the Foreign Relations panel, favors a hawkish U.S. policy toward both Iran and China. But signs of conflict between Republican hawks within and outside the administration emerged late Thursday as the rollout of the sanctions announcement approached, with some expecting them to be significantly softened. When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday morning unveiled the policy for next week’s “snapback,” the announcement improved on the Thursday night expectations of Iran hawks. But Rubio made clear he’s not satisfied.
“Maximum pressure means not only restoring all of the sanctions measures that President Obama had wrongly suspended under the flawed Iran nuclear deal, but also going further to expand sanctions on the regime in Tehran,” Rubio said.
His comments are an apparent rebuke of Pompeo, who maintained earlier Friday that Trump is implementing the “maximum pressure” campaign effectively while defending the oil waivers that are being granted to “eight jurisdictions” that currently rely on Iranian oil.
“Not only did we decide to grant many fewer exemptions, but we demanded much more serious concessions from these jurisdictions before agreeing to allow them to temporarily continue to import Iranian crude oil,” Pompeo said. “These concessions are critical to ensure that we increase our maximum pressure campaign and accelerate towards zero. ... Maximum pressure means maximum pressure.”
Relatedly, Pompeo added that the payments for Iranian oil will be deposited in escrow accounts so that the regime will not have the option of siphoning the cash for illicit activity.
“One hundred percent of the revenue that Iran receives from the sale of crude oil will be held in foreign accounts and can be used by Iran only for humanitarian trade or bilateral trade in nonsanctioned goods and services,” he said.
Mnuchin announced that some Iranian financial institutions would be disconnected from SWIFT — a consortium that helps facilitate payments across international borders — but added that some entities would remain connected to facilitate humanitarian payments.
“We have advised SWIFT the Treasury will aggressively use its authorities as necessary to continue intense economic pressure on the Iranian regime, and that SWIFT would be subject to U.S. sanctions if it provides financial messaging services to certain designated Iranian financial institutions,” Mnuchin said. “The list of banks, which will be substantially longer than last time, will be coming out over the weekend.”
Rubio said that “more must be done to press” to compel the SWIFT network to follow through on those requirements.
"I look forward to working with the Trump administration to ensure the United States imposes maximum pressure against the authoritarian Iranian regime’s support for terrorism, nuclear and missile programs, regional aggression, and egregious human rights abuses,” he said.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...rumps-waiver-for-china-for-iran-oil-sanctions
by Joel Gehrke
| November 02, 2018 02:04 PM
President Trump’s decision Friday to allow China and other countries to continue importing Iranian oil despite the reimposition of sanctions drew criticism from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a prominent critic of both regimes.
“Sanctions waivers being given to key purchasers of Iranian oil, most alarmingly China, give Iran a financial reprieve and should be eliminated as soon as possible,” Rubio said in response to the administration's announcement of the waivers.
Rubio, a Republican member of the Foreign Relations panel, favors a hawkish U.S. policy toward both Iran and China. But signs of conflict between Republican hawks within and outside the administration emerged late Thursday as the rollout of the sanctions announcement approached, with some expecting them to be significantly softened. When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday morning unveiled the policy for next week’s “snapback,” the announcement improved on the Thursday night expectations of Iran hawks. But Rubio made clear he’s not satisfied.
“Maximum pressure means not only restoring all of the sanctions measures that President Obama had wrongly suspended under the flawed Iran nuclear deal, but also going further to expand sanctions on the regime in Tehran,” Rubio said.
His comments are an apparent rebuke of Pompeo, who maintained earlier Friday that Trump is implementing the “maximum pressure” campaign effectively while defending the oil waivers that are being granted to “eight jurisdictions” that currently rely on Iranian oil.
“Not only did we decide to grant many fewer exemptions, but we demanded much more serious concessions from these jurisdictions before agreeing to allow them to temporarily continue to import Iranian crude oil,” Pompeo said. “These concessions are critical to ensure that we increase our maximum pressure campaign and accelerate towards zero. ... Maximum pressure means maximum pressure.”
Relatedly, Pompeo added that the payments for Iranian oil will be deposited in escrow accounts so that the regime will not have the option of siphoning the cash for illicit activity.
“One hundred percent of the revenue that Iran receives from the sale of crude oil will be held in foreign accounts and can be used by Iran only for humanitarian trade or bilateral trade in nonsanctioned goods and services,” he said.
Mnuchin announced that some Iranian financial institutions would be disconnected from SWIFT — a consortium that helps facilitate payments across international borders — but added that some entities would remain connected to facilitate humanitarian payments.
“We have advised SWIFT the Treasury will aggressively use its authorities as necessary to continue intense economic pressure on the Iranian regime, and that SWIFT would be subject to U.S. sanctions if it provides financial messaging services to certain designated Iranian financial institutions,” Mnuchin said. “The list of banks, which will be substantially longer than last time, will be coming out over the weekend.”
Rubio said that “more must be done to press” to compel the SWIFT network to follow through on those requirements.
"I look forward to working with the Trump administration to ensure the United States imposes maximum pressure against the authoritarian Iranian regime’s support for terrorism, nuclear and missile programs, regional aggression, and egregious human rights abuses,” he said.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...rumps-waiver-for-china-for-iran-oil-sanctions
