(ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on April 22, 2019, in which he announced that the United States would no longer grant exemptions to Iran’s oil customers. Washington is taking a tougher line on Tehran’s oil exports, but that could drive up oil prices and provoke an angry response from Iran.
The United States is ratcheting up its campaign against Iran with an ambitious new target: all of the Islamic republic's oil exports. On April 22, the White House announced that it would not renew sanctions waivers for Iran's oil customers after the current ones expire on May 2, adding that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would help stabilize the market. The announcement sent the price of light sweet crude benchmark Brent spiked up 3 percent to $74 per barrel — its highest since October 2018. The previous round of waivers permitted eight of Iran's oil customers to continue importing around 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in total. Most of this allotment, however, went to just three countries: China, India and South Korea.
