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EU Announces Legal Entity to Maintain Business with Iran

The European Union said Monday its members would set up a payment system to allow oil companies and businesses to continue trading with Iran in a bid to evade sanctions after the US withdrew from a nuclear agreement. Iran and the European Union announced their defiance towards US President Donald Trump’s administration after high-level talks at the United Nations among the remaining […]

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Macron Wants Iran to Sell Oil, Urges Dialogue

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that Iran should be allowed to keep selling oil and urged dialogue as he rejected a US push to isolate the clerical regime. Speaking to reporters after addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Macron said that Iranian sales would bring down the price of oil—a professed concern of US President Donald Trump. “It would be […]

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Rouhani Warns U.S. on Sanctions, Does Not Rule out Talks

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday warned the United States against pursuing hostile policies toward Tehran, saying preventing Iran from exporting oil would be “very dangerous”, though he did not rule out talks between the two countries. In May, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 international nuclear deal […]

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Iran Adhering to Nuclear Deal: British PM

Iran is adhering to its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal and the accord—repudiated by the United States—should stay in place, Britain’s prime minister said in an interview broadcast  on Sunday. “From what we see, we believe that it is doing that,” Theresa May told CBS. “We believe that that should stay in place. And others, […]

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Trump’s Blow to Iranian Oil Sparks Curious Price Divergence

The relationship between two major oil benchmarks is charting an unexpected course as U.S. sanctions take Iranian crude out of the market. As demand for alternative Middle Eastern supply increases, regional marker Dubai crude has reason to strengthen. Yet it’s weakening against London’s Brent — an oil grade with very different chemical characteristics that’s used […]

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Sinopec Persists With Iran Refinery Upgrade

China’s state-controlled Sinopec is pressing ahead with a USD 1.06bn upgrade project at Iran’s 400,000 b/d Abadan refinery, despite the imminent return of US sanctions on Iran’s energy sector. Sinopec is contracted to build a new 210,000 b/d crude distillation unit (CDU) to replace three distillation units with a combined 250,000 b/d that were built […]

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Iran-India Logistical Cooperation Set to Jump amid Scaled-Back Energy Ties

Amid reports of detailed talks between the United States and India to cut New Delhi’s oil imports from Iran, Indian refiners are reportedly moving to reduce their crude loadings from the Islamic Republic. Yet, India has also taken the step of allowing its state refiners to use Iranian tankers and shipping insurance ahead of the re-imposition of US sanctions targeting Iranian […]

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Macron to Meet Trump, Iran’s Rouhani at UN in New York: French Presidency

President Emmanuel Macron will separately meet his US and Iranian counterparts, Donald Trump and Hassan Rouhani, during the UN General Assembly in New York next week, the French presidency said Wednesday. Macron will meet Trump on Monday afternoon before having dinner with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. On Tuesday, the French President will address the assembly and hold talks with Rouhani, an Elysee […]

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US Still Ready to Talk to Iran: Official

US leaders remain ready to negotiate with their Iranian counterparts but Tehran is still refusing President Donald Trump’s overture to do so, a senior US official said Wednesday. Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “have all made clear that we are ready to negotiate and to have those discussions,” Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, told the […]

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Interview with Iranian Foreign Minister: ‘The Nuclear Agreement Is Not a Love Affair’

DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Foreign Minister, in May, United States President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. In August, sanctions against your country were reimposed and since then, the Iranian economy has been struggling. Do you feel as though you have been left in the lurch by Europe? Zarif: The Europeans are facing a very fundamental […]

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US Sanctions on Iran Are ‘Unproductive’ and ‘Wrong’, Russia’s Energy Minister Says

U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry are unproductive and there will be consequences to such a move, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told CNBC. “Our position remains that this is unproductive, this is wrong,” Novak said when asked about the possible impact U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil industry could have. “It is better to continue working […]

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Why Iran Prefers The Eastern Bloc Over The West

As the military phase of the Syrian conflict reaches its final stages, the leaders of Russia, Iran, and Turkey met in Tehran on September 9 and reiterated in a joint statement that a political solution to the Syrian conflict requires inclusive, free, and fair elections with the participation of all eligible Syrians under appropriate UN supervision. They […]

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Trump’s Policy on Iran ‘Dangerous and Ill-Advised,’ Kerry Says

Former Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement he helped negotiate was “dangerous and ill-advised.” Speaking on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” Kerry called the deal the “single strongest, single most accountable, single most transparent nuclear agreement anywhere in the world,” saying Trump […]

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The Buck Stops Here: Europe Seeks Alternative to U.S.-Dominated Financial System. Germany and France Complain That the U.S. Is Abusing Sanctions Power to Bully Even Its Allies.

In a sign of how serious the breach between Europe and the United States is during the Trump era, senior officials in France and Germany are increasingly planning ways to sidestep U.S. financial dominance and the global sanctions power that goes with it. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas late last month called for Europe to achieve financial […]

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Can Europe Defend Itself And Iran From U.S. Sanctions?

n an op-ed published in the German newspaper Handelsblatt, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas declared that the “the US and Europe have been drifting apart for years.” Nowhere is this clearer than in the disagreement between the United States and Europe over the fate of the Iran nuclear deal. When President Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan […]

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How Europe Plans to Skirt Trump’s Sanctions and Keep Doing Business with Iran

WASHINGTON — America’s allies in Europe are plotting ways to bypass President Donald Trump’s sanctions on Iran as they work to keep the nuclear deal alive without the United States. With a second round of U.S. sanctions set to take effect in November, European officials are working at cross-purposes with Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign as they try to […]

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Making Europe Financially Independent, One Transaction at a Time

Germany’s foreign minister wants Europe to create new financial infrastructures to free it from US domination. He’s suggested a new system for banking transactions. But what exactly would a European SWIFT system look like? Last week, Germany’s foreign minister made headlines around the world when he suggested that Europe should be less reliant on the […]

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