News

Fearing U.S. sanctions on Tehran, Sri Lanka stops importing Iranian crude oil

19 Sep, 2018

In anticipation of new U.S. sanctions against?Tehran, Sri Lankan energy officials said Tuesday the South Asian nation has stopped importing Iranian crude oil, the Washington Times reported.

?We stopped as soon as the sanctions were announced,? Sri Lankan petroleum resources development minister?Arjuna Ranatunga?was quoted as saying in Abu Dhabi?s leading English language newspaper, The National. ?We didn?t buy [directly] from?Iran. We buy from Singapore, Dubai, Fujairah.?

The move is the latest global reaction to the?Trump administration?s effort to kill?Tehran?s oil exports in the wake of Washington withdrawing from multilateral 2015 nuclear agreement with?Iran?last May.

While the U.S. has already reimposed some finical penalties against?Tehran, in early November major sanctions kick in aimed at punishing countries who buy Iranian oil by blocking their access to U.S. markets and financial institutions.

The aggressive?Trump administration?measures have proven extremely effective, energy analysts said, with data showing that Iranian oil exports have plunged about 35 percent since April.

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