Page 9 - MEOG Week 04 2023

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

US to increase pressure on China over Iran

IRAN THE US is to crank up the pressure on China to on our agenda. As reported earlier this week,
stop buying Iranian oil on the shadow market. Iran’s oil exports appear to be surging thanks to
The White House is poised to intensify efforts shadow market barrels sent to China under the
in enforcing sanctions aimed at pressuring the banner of shipments from Malaysia.
Islamic Republic not to cross the line with its The official data show Malaysia as China’s
nuclear activities. “China is the main destina- third-biggest provider of crude last month,
tion of illicit exports by Iran,” Robert Malley, the behind only Saudi Arabia and Russia, but Malay-
Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, sian exports to China on that scale are unfeasi-
told Bloomberg Television on January 23, adding ble, noted Bloomberg on January 20, saying they
that talks to dissuade Beijing from buying such were almost triple the average daily crude output
exports would be “intensified”. from the Southeast Asian nation over 9M22.
Malley denied that the US is – as some “China’s crude imports from Iran picked
energy traders insist – content for Iranian oil to up to a new record in the last month of 2022,”
be on global markets as it is a positive factor in Armen Azizan, an analyst at Vortexa, said in a
restraining oil prices. He also backed the recent report. The report also noted that Iran – which
line taken by other US officials that talks with has to sell oil under the radar given US sanctions
Iran on reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement, or – exported 1.3mn barrels/day of oil in Novem-
JCPOA, have largely broken down. The US was ber, and in December stayed near the highest
instead concentrating on stopping Iran from level seen in four years.
using violence in cracking down on protesters at Malaysian waters have long been used by oil
home and on preventing it from backing Russian traders dodging sanctions by transferring crude
operations in Ukraine, Malley said. and petroleum products from one tanker to
“Our focus has shifted to Iran killing its own another, sometimes disguising the origin. Bar-
citizens and what we can do to counter that, and rels from Iran and Venezuela are known to have
to Iran assisting in Russia’s killing of Ukrainian been re-branded as oil from Malaysia and Oman
citizens and what we can do to deter and stop before being shipped to China, the world’s big-
that,” he said. “The nuclear deal has not been gest oil importer.™

Court hears arguments against

Halkbank in sanctions case

IRAN / TURKEY THE US Supreme Court has heard arguments said in 2019 that the charges against Halkbank
this week on whether Turkey’s state-owned were “unlawful” and “ugly.” In 2020, there were
Halkbank assisted Iran in a multi-billion dollar US media reports that Erdogan pressured
scheme to evade US sanctions. then-president Donald Trump to get the case
Halkbank is attempting to secure the removal dropped.
of US Department of Justice (DoJ) charges US prosecutors allege that from 2012, Halk-
brought in 2019 that allege bank fraud, conspir- bank employees used entities in Turkey, Iran and
acy and money laundering. It argues that as a the United Arab Emirates to evade sanctions
state bank, it is immune from such charges. related to Iran’s access to the US financial system,
“For sovereign-immunity purposes, Halk- restrictions on Iranian energy sales and restric-
bank is Turkiye [Turkey],” Halkbank wrote to the tions on supplying gold to the Iranian govern-
Supreme Court before the hearing, according to ment. Halkbank is said by the DoJ to have helped
a court document cited by US media. Iran buy gold using oil and gas sales revenues
Reuters reported that conservative jus- deposited at the bank.
tice Brett Kavanaugh argued that it would be Unnamed “high-ranking” Turkish and Ira-
“bizarre” for the court to undermine the presi- nian officials took part in the scheme, according
dent’s exercise of national security authority – a to the DoJ.
reference to the DoJ’s charges against the bank. Halkbank is seeking a ruling in favour of sov-
However, Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned ereign immunity, which provides legal immu-
against giving federal and state prosecutors the nity to governments in other governments’ legal
right to “insult” other countries. systems. No date for when the Supreme Court
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may rule on the case is available.™

Week 04 25•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P9