Page 6 - IRANRptSep19

the accord will soon not have any real value.
“What Mr Rouhani has told Macron is that if Europe wants to preserve the nuclear deal then they must establish our ability to sell oil,” Araghchi said, referring to the US policy in existence since May that aims to drive Iranian oil exports to zero. “There are two options or solutions—one is for them to go to the Americans and get waivers again for oil buyers so they can buy oil from Iran, or if they cannot do that, they themselves should buy that level of oil, using a credit line.”
Iran, meanwhile, again dismissed the idea of talks with Washington while Trump remained outside the deal and stuck with his “economic war” against Tehran. On a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the Americans should "buy a ticket which gets them full compliance to the nuclear agreement" if they want negotiations with Iran, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported, citing Malaysian television.
Iran has lately made some moderate breaches of the nuclear deal. Araghchi said the country will restore full compliance once it can sell oil and have unhindered access to its oil revenues.
Compliance with the nuclear deal, which aims to keep Iran’s nuclear development programme purely civilian, is supposed to protect Iran from heavy sanctions.
2.2 UK ‘considering putting drones in Gulf skies to help protect shipping’
The UK is considering deploying drones to the Persian Gulf amid tensions with Iran over a seized oil tanker, Sky News reported on September 2. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) has a number of Reaper drones based in nearby Kuwait which are used for missions over Iraq and Syria. These could be re-tasked if the decision to deploy drones to the Gulf is taken, the TV news report added.
British warships continue to escort UK-flagged tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. On August 30, the UK called for broad support from nations to tackle Gulf shipping threats. Iran seized the British-flagged Stena Impero oil tanker in the strait in July. That move followed the UK seizing an Iranian tanker off the Strait of Gibraltar, alleging it was on course to deliver oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. The tanker-- Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1—has since been released by Gibraltar. Iran claimed the UK acted to grab the tanker at the behest of the US. London denied it.
Shipping security in the Gulf has also been placed in question by half a dozen limpet mine attacks that disabled tankers in the Sea of Oman, which ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz pass through to reach the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Washington insists there is clear evidence that Iran was behind those attacks. Tehran denies any involvement.
The US is attempting to drive Iranian oil exports to zero using sanctions. Iran has warned that if the US goes too far with its policy of stopping Iranian oil exports, it could close the Strait of Hormuz to all energy exports. The strait is a vulnerable chokepoint for the oil industry as around a fifth of the crude shipped
6 IRAN Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com