NCRI, 6 Feb 2013 – New sanctions placed by U.S. is becoming effective starting Wednesday. Under the new sanctions, countries are prohibited from procuring oil from Iranian regime in foreign currencies.
Under penalty of expulsion from the U.S. banking system, Iranian regime’s crude customers such as China, Japan and India will be restricted to using their own currencies for the purchases, starting today. Importers will be compelled to keep the payments in escrow accounts that Iranian regime can use only for locally sourced goods and services, in what will amount to barter arrangements.
“They’ll have to accept that a lot of cash is piling up in banks in importing countries, and they’ll now have to look for ways to get it out,” said Robin Mills, head of consulting at the Dubai-based Manaar Energy Consulting & Project Management, in a Jan. 31 phone interview with Bloomberg. “It’s making the trade much more difficult.”
The Washington Post quoted U.S. officials on January 20, 2013, that the little-noticed statute could dry up one of Iranian regime’s largest remaining sources of oil income.