Asia buoys Iran as US sanctions hit
Iran is still selling considerable quantities of oil to China, Japan, India and South Korea thanks to US waivers and other mechanisms to circumvent sanctions.
US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is reinforcing a trend that was already underway as doubts mounted about the Donald Trump administration’s commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA): Iran is looking east for its economic survival.
Under waivers announced by the Trump administration in November, eight countries are permitted to continue to import oil and condensates from Iran until March without falling afoul of US sanctions. Five of the eight are in Asia and of them, China is the biggest.
