Iran Sanctions - Foreign Press Centers

EU Oil Embargo and Central Bank of Iran Cutoff
Iran Sanctions
The EU has joined the United States in targeting Iran’s lifeline, its oil exports, for sanctions. At
the January 23, 2012, EU meeting, the EU decided to:
• Refrain from new contracts to purchase Iranian oil and to wind down existing
contracts from the present until July 1, 2012. There would be a review on May 1,
2012, about the effect of the move on the EU’s vulnerable economies, such as
Spain, Italy, and Greece, which each get more than 10% of their imported oil
from Iran and have the greatest need of lining up alternative supplies. Britain and
Germany only get about 1% of their oil from Iran, and France about 4%.
Collectively, the EU buys about 600,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil, about a
quarter of Iran’s total oil exports, which presumably will now be supplied by
Saudi Arabia or other suppliers that have spare production capacity.
• Stop all trade with Iran in gold, precious metals, diamonds, and petrochemical
products.
• Freeze the assets of Iran’s Central Bank, although transactions would still be
permitted for approved legitimate trade.
• Freeze the assets of several Iranian firms involved in shipping arms to Syria or
which support shipping by IRISL, and cease doing business with port operator
Tidewater (see above).
As discussed above, partly as a consequence of the EU decision, on March 20, 2012, 10 EU
countries were granted exemptions from any U.S. sanctions imposed under the P.L. 112-81
provision to sanction banks that transact business with Iran’s Central Bank.
SWIFT Cutoff
The Belgium-based SWIFT organization (Society for Worldwide International Financial
Transfers) announced in February 2012 that it would abide by any EU decision to expel Iranian
banks blacklisted by the EU (about 18 Iranian banks that meet that criteria are members of the
network) from its membership. Such a move was requested and, as of March 17, 2012, SWIFT
ended transactions with these Iranian banks.
Japan and South Korea
Japan and South Korea have joined the international coalition that is pressuring Iran, in part to
maintain their close relations with the United States, but also out of concern about Iran’s nuclear
program. In September 2010, Japan and South Korea announced Iran sanctions similar to those of
the EU, including limiting trade financing for Iran, limiting new banking relations with Iran,
sanctioning numerous named Iranian entities, and restricting new projects in Iran’s energy sector.
On December 16, 2011, South Korea announced new sanctions to align policy with the
November 2011 U.S. decision to sanction sales to Iran of energy sector equipment.
Both countries have announced they will cooperate with the United States and the EU targeting of
Iran’s oil exports, but both are worried about threats to their oil supplies and, therefore, their
economies. Their cooperation is considered by U.S. officials essential to overall U.S. strategy of
cutting Iran’s exports of oil substantially because each gets about 10% of its oil from Iran. Both
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