As the administration ends waivers that allowed eight countries to continue purchasing Iranian crude and condensate, one administration official told CNN that they are concerned about the response from Tehran, which could target US assets in the Middle East and escalate tensions with the US and in the region.
The administration has cut deeply into Iranian oil exports in a very short time, analysts say, and the waiver elimination aims to cut them off completely. US officials are wary, however, that countries will work to find ways around potential sanctions, through smuggling and the use of corporations with little connection to the US financial system.
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Burgeoning international conflict, competing foreign policy priorities and President Donald Trump’s intense focus on the political impact of gasoline prices could also fray the administration’s attempts to cut Tehran’s estimated daily exports of 1.1 million to 1.3 million barrels a day to a stark zero.
“I don’t think Iranian oil will stop flowing,” said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former senior adviser at the Treasury Department. While Rosenberg said she expects “a big dip,” she emphasized that “it is not going to go to zero. The US has a major enforcement challenge on its hands.”
Source: US braced for Iranian response as oil crackdown starts
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