Roiling Markets, U.S. Insists World Must Stop Buying Iranian Oil

By Gardiner Harris and Stanley Reed, NY Times, June 26, 2018

The United States said on Tuesday that it will impose sanctions against all importers of Iranian oil by Nov. 4, a surprisingly tough position that roiled oil markets and is likely to further alienate allies and adversaries alike.

The policy shook financial markets that had become accustomed to waivers for American sanctions that in years past had been granted to companies in countries like India and China as long as they showed steady reductions in their imports of Iranian oil.

But a senior State Department official said Tuesday morning that such routine waivers were not likely to be issued by the Trump administration.

Sanctions experts expressed a mixture of bafflement and scorn at Tuesday’s announcement. They noted that countries like India and China never entirely ended their imports of Iranian crude even before Tehran agreed to the 2015 nuclear accord.

Following Washington’s withdrawal from the deal, European allies vowed to resist reimposing of sanctions. And in the midst of an increasingly bitter trade war with China, the likelihood that Beijing will entirely end its imports of Iranian oil is dubious, analysts said.

“They’re going to go after the Central Bank of China just before the midterms?” said Daniel Fried, a top White House and State Department official in the administration of President George W. Bush. “The next day’s headline will be: ‘Dow Drops 5,000 Points.’”

Peter Harrell, a former sanctions official in the State Department, dismissed the idea outright. “I don’t see China and India going to zero,” he said.

This month, European leaders applied for waivers to the renewed American sanctions against Iran, saying that preserving the agreement was vital to the security of their respective nations. Few expected the waivers to be granted, but Tuesday’s abrupt announcement, which largely ruled them out, could cause further strains.

European diplomats spent months negotiating a side agreement to the Iran deal with Brian Hook, a top State Department official, hoping such an agreement would persuade Mr. Trump to stay in the accord. In April, President Emmanuel Macron of France told Mr. Trump in the Oval Office that negotiations with Mr. Hook were about to yield a strong agreement. “Who’s Brian Hook?” Mr. Trump responded, according to a person with knowledge of the exchange.

The failure of the nuclear negotiations, Mr. Trump’s unusually combative posture at the recent Group of 7 meeting in Canada and his recent imposition of trade tariffs have left European allies weighing how far they can and should go to defy the United States. A growing number of large European companies have announced, however, that they intend to abandon Iran.

Robert A. Pape, director of the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats, said that sanctions only work when a country’s military suppliers participate in the effort. With Russia and China likely to continue to supply Iran with sophisticated hardware despite the sanctions, the Trump administration’s efforts are not likely to succeed, he said.

“This is big stick diplomacy, and that has a long history of failure,” Mr. Pape said.

Katherine Bauer, a former Treasury Department official, said that countries are likely to balk at the Trump administration’s maximalist posture.

“The risk is that you push countries to look for ways around sanctions,” she said.

Dennis Edwards: Is Donald Trump isolating America even from its former allies and in so doing preparing for the fulfillment of Bible Prophecy?

In Revelation chapter 17 we see the 10 nations, which come out of the former Roman Empire, join for a short period with the "Beast" or Antichrist to destroy the great Commercial Prostitute's city in one hour by fire.

Many Bible Eschatalogy students believe New York City could be the present day fulfillment of Babylon the Whore of Revelation chapters 17 and 18. Donald Trump's policies of isolation, "America First," could very well lead to the ten nations of former Roman Empire aligning themselves with Russia. 

Many believe the Antichrist will have something to do with Russia. Some say he will come out of from Russia, others say he will have a close alliance with Russia. In any case, Trump's actions are only isolating America further from the rest of the world. America is closely aligned with Israel. Will the desruction of Babylon the Whore, which could very well be America, occur at the time of the invasion of Israel from the north? 

Is Trump pushing us further along the road to eventual confrontation and world destruction as predicted by Jesus and the book of Revelation? Will it happen in our life time, or that of our children or grandchildren? Be attentive. It may be later than you think.