January 17-2014
Russia and Iran are reportedly negotiating an oil-for-goods barter deal worth $1.5 billion a month that would see Iran breaking out of the sanctions stranglehold.
Reuters reported last week that the deal was under negotiation. Iran immediately denied there was any such deal. But Moscow has remained strangely silent.
The State Department told Reuters it didn’t know if the story was true but was very concerned that it might be—in which case, it could mean imposing US sanctions on Russian banks.
Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, “We are concerned about these reports and Secretary [of State John] Kerry directly expressed this concern with [Russian] Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov today [Monday]…. If the reports are true, such a deal would raise serious concerns as it would be inconsistent with the terms of the P5+1 agreement with Iran and could potentially trigger US sanctions.”
The Reuters news report last week quoted both Iranian and Russian sources as confirming talks were underway on such a barter deal.
Russia would buy 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil, worth $1.5 billion a month at $100 a barrel. Russia, which is an oil exporter, would presumably mix the Iranian oil with its own crude and market it as Russian oil, thus enabling Iran to evade sanctions.
Iran would then get an equivalent value of Russian goods and equipment, with no need to tackle the problem of blocked banking transactions since there would be no bank transactions.
The arrangement would boost Iranian oil exports 50 percent above today’s 1 million barrels a day though still well below the 2.5 million level that prevailed for two decades before the tough new sanctions were imposed in 2012.
