February 07-2014
. . . spiker
US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that a proposed oil-for-goods swap between Russia and Iran would not go ahead for now after the United States raised concerns with both Tehran and Moscow, warning it could be subject to US sanctions.
A Reuters report January 10 said Iran and Russia were negotiating a $1.5 billion per month oil-for-goods barter deal that would enable Iran to lift its oil exports by 50 percent.
Sherman told a congressional hearing Tuesday the issue was raised at “the highest level” by the US to ensure the deal did not go ahead.
“My own sense of this is after a fair amount of clarity about this matter that nothing will move forward at this time,” Sherman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“We are very crystal clear that anything like such an agreement between Russia and Iran might have potential sanctionable action and would likely create tremendous risk within the P5+1, which would make coming to a comprehensive [nuclear] agreement [with Iran] all the more difficult, if not impossible,” she said.