US keeps up Iran sanctions pressure

摘要

US lawmakers are looking to increase sanctions pressure on Tehran, despite apparent progress in international negoti- ations on Iran's nuclear programme. US House of Representatives foreign affairs committee chairman Ed Royce and rank- ing Democrat Eliot Engel are champion- ing a bill to limit the State Department's ability to grant sanctions waivers to coun- tries purchasing Iranian crude. The State Department last year exempted 20 countries from sanctions targeting banks doing business with Iran's central bank in recognition of their efforts to reduce crude purchases "significantly" (WPA, 7 December, p8). The new bill would stipulate that the State Department can only grant an exemption if a country has reduced its imports from the previous 180-day period.