News: US State Department confirms there is no deal with Iran on sanctions relief as of now

Reports began circulating this week in which Iran claimed an agreement has been reached with the US to remove all insurance, oil, and shipping sanctions that have been imposed by the US on Iran. Yesterday, a Senior US State Department Official dispelled that notion during a press conference on the ongoing discussions between the two countries. The official confirmed there is no deal in place but reaffirmed the US’ commitment to continue the dialogue with the intended goal of re-joining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The official explained as follows: 

First, where we are on the talks – and there has been some reporting that we basically have a deal already with Iran, that it’s just a matter of deciding when we’re going to put it out.  Let me make it absolutely clear:  We just concluded round six.  We will be resuming – or coming back for round seven sometime in the not-too-distant future, and we wouldn’t be doing that if the deal were already done.  We still have serious differences that have not been bridged, serious differences with Iran over the host of issues, whether it’s the nuclear steps that Iran needs to take to come back into compliance, the sanctions relief that the U.S. will be offering, or the sequence of steps that both sides would be taking.  Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.  And since everything is not agreed, we still don’t have anything nailed down.  And there’s still some very important issues that need to be resolved.  By the same token, we wouldn’t be going back for a seventh round if we didn’t think that a deal was possible.  It remains possible.  It remains our objective, but we’re not there yet, and I’m not going to speculate as to if or when we will get there. 

A transcript of the entire press conference is available on the State Department website. 

Therefore, as matters presently stand, nothing has changed regarding the US sanctions targeting Iran. The sanctions remain in effect. In the words of the State Department Official, '[n]othing is agreed until everything is agreed.' Members thus still need to carry out careful due diligence if they are considering trading to Iran.  

We continue to monitor developments in this area. Should members have questions about sanctions in general, they can contact their usual club contact for assistance. 

Category: Sanctions