Washington DC, August 1: The United States is expected to announce it will renew the sanctions waivers offered to five nations for the Iranian nuclear programs that allow European nations, China and Russia to keep civilian nuclear cooperation with Tehran, the Washington Post said on Tuesday.
In one of the Oval Office conference held last week, US President Donald Trump sided with Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, who argued to renew the sanction waivers over the objections proposed by secretary of state Mike Pompeo and White House national security adviser John Bolton, as per the Post.
The Post reported Mnuchin has “argued to Trump that if the sanctions were not again waived as required by law by Aug. 1, the United States would have to sanction Russian, Chinese and European firms that are involved in projects inside Iran that were established as part of the 2015 nuclear deal”, citing some six unnamed government officials.
However, according to Reuters news reports, a spokesperson for the US state department refused to comment.
The further reported the department of treasury asked for extra time to reconsider the effects of potential sanctions over Chinese, European, and Russian firms, and quoted a top Trump administration official saying the focus of ending the sanction waivers remained.
“These waivers can be revoked at any time, as developments with Iran warrant. But because of the Treasury Department’s legitimate concerns, we’ve decided to extend them for now,” the official said, according to the Post.
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