U.S. adjourns sanctions on Iran’s oil sector for 6 month
By Sara Rajabova
The United States has suspended its sanctions on Iran's oil sector for six months.
"The United States has committed to pause efforts to further reduce Iran's crude oil sales for a six month period under the Joint Plan of Action between the P5+1 and Iran," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, Press TV reported.
Carney was referring to Iran's nuclear deal with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany in November 2013.
Under the deal, the six countries agreed to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified that Iran is complying with these commitments," Carney said.
In a quarterly report on May 23, the IAEA said that Iran has been complying with the terms of an interim agreement reached between in Geneva.
Iran's accord with the world powers, which went into effect on January 20, is aimed at setting the stage for the full resolution of the decade-old standoff over Tehran's nuclear energy program.
On June 2, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano welcomed Iran's "substantive" cooperation with the agency, saying the efforts had helped the UN body "gain a better understanding" of the Iranian nuclear energy program.
Representatives from Iran and the six world powers ended their second day of expert-level talks over Tehran's nuclear energy program on June 5.
Hamid Baeidinejad, director general for political and international affairs at the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the two sides brought up and accurately discussed detailed expert-level issues during the technical talks.
Iran and the six countries have been discussing ways to iron out differences and start drafting a final deal that would end the West's dispute with Iran over the country's nuclear energy program.
Iran and its negotiating partners wrapped up their latest round of high-level nuclear talks in Vienna on May 16. The next round of talks between the two sides is slated to be held in the Austrian capital on June 16-20.
In early 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.