US moves to offer Iran sanctions relief, despite insisting it would be conditioned on performance — officials

The US is readying to begin offering Iran sanctions relief in the form of a waiver allowing Tehran to export its oil, after the sides inked a memorandum of understanding to end the war between them on Sunday, a US official and a Mideast diplomat tell The Times of Israel.

The US has insisted that the MOU conditions any sanctions relief for Iran on Tehran’s willingness to make concessions in subsequent talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and its conduct in the region.

But the up-front US sanctions waiver on Iranian oil sales would indicate that Iran is not in fact required to make further concessions in order to have some of the economic restrictions against Tehran lifted.

A senior US official briefing reporters on Monday seemed to hint at the sanctions waiver, saying the US would make “some small gestures… in the beginning,” but said those would be conditioned on “small gestures… that show they’re willing to meet their commitments.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the sanctions waiver earlier today, but was unclear as to whether it was already in effect.

The report noted that an Iranian oil tanker was allowed to cross the US blockade today, in an indication that the waiver is at least partially in place.

While lifting its curbs on oil exports offers some much-needed relief to Iran, it is seen as one of the more minor steps that the US can take in the realm of sanctions relief.

Washington even signed such a waiver during the recent Iran war, temporarily lifting sanctions on Iranian oil for 30 days, in order to ease pressure on global energy supplies and lower oil prices.