WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2018) The United States will carefully monitor escrow accounts set up for the nations that will be able to continue importing Iranian oil following the re-imposition of US sanctions on November 5, US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told reporters on Friday.
Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States would grant temporary waivers to eight countries.
"The United States will be monitoring these escrow accounts very closely," Hook said. "We will ensure that the money is not spent on illicit activities, that there isn't any leakage in these escrow accounts, and we will work closely with countries to encourage the purchase and - the sale and purchase of humanitarian goods to benefit the Iranian people."
He noted that US sanctions have "very clear exceptions" for sales of food, medicine, and medical equipment.
Hook explained that escrow accounts are created for those countries that need to continue importing Iranian oil and these accounts will deny Tehran hard Currency.
"Any time Iran sells oil, that money goes into an escrow account in the importing nation's bank, and Iran has to spend down that credit," he continued.
Pompeo said a list of the eight jurisdictions receiving the temporary waivers would be released on Monday, but added that the European Union as a bloc was not one of them, though individual nations from the EU could be included.
Six of the countries have agreed to significantly reduce their Iranian oil imports, while two others plan to halt their imports entirely, Pompeo said.
In May, Trump announced the United States' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement and consequent reinstatement of sanctions that had previously been lifted under the nuclear deal. The United States re-introduced a first round of sanctions against Iran in August. The second round of sanctions, targeting Iran's oil sector, is set to take effect on November 5.
