IRAN TO ANNOUNCE DIMINISHED COMMITMENTS TO N-DEAL

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Europe ready to reimpose sanctions – India cuts oil

PARIS, May 7, (Agencies): Europe would have to reimpose sanctions on Iran if Tehran reneged on parts of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a French presidency source said on Tuesday. Iran’s state-run IRIB news agency reported on Monday that Tehran would restart part of its halted nuclear programme in response to the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, but added Tehran does not plan to pull out of the agreement. Iran’s president is due to speak on Wednesday.

“We do not want Tehran to announce tomorrow actions that would violate the nuclear agreement, because in this case we Europeans would be obliged to reimpose sanctions as per the terms of the agreement,” the source said. “We don’t want that and we hope that the Iranians will not make this decision.” France, Germany and Britain, the European signatories to the agreement that lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on Iran’s atomic activities, have scrambled to save the deal amid US efforts to isolate Tehran since it announced its withdrawal a year ago.

However, the three have repeatedly warned Iran that it must comply with all aspects of the deal and most importantly the elements related to nuclear activity. Those restrictions have increased the time Iran would need to build a nuclear bomb if it chose to do so. The United States and the UN nuclear watchdog believe Iran had a nuclear weapons programme that it abandoned. Iran denies ever having had one.

“We sent messages to Tehran to say that we were determined to implement the agreement, that we really wanted them to stay in this agreement even though we took into account the complexity of the situation and passed on the same messages to our American allies,” the French source said.

“Tomorrow, depending on what is in the statement from Tehran, at this stage what we’re expecting is a collective European reaction but as we do not yet know exactly what will be in it, we are preparing for different eventualities.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry will announce Tehran’s “diminished commitments” to the 2015 nuclear deal to envoys of the accord’s five remaining signatories on Wednesday, and President Hassan Rouhani is to send a letter, state media said on Tuesday.

Tensions have risen on the eve of the anniversary of the US withdrawal from world powers’ nuclear deal with Iran. Tehran is likely to revive part of its halted nuclear programme on Wednesday in response to the US move but does not plan to pull out of the agreement itself, state media has said. US acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Monday he had approved sending a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East because of indications of a “credible threat by Iranian regime forces,” but did not provide any details on the underlying intelligence.

US national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday the United States was deploying the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East to send a message to Iran. While neither Shanahan nor Bolton provided details on US intelligence, other US officials told Reuters there were “multiple, credible threats” against US forces on land, including in Iraq, by Iran and proxy forces and at sea.

Oil imports
India’s oil imports from Iran fell about 57 percent year-on-year in April, according to tanker arrival data seen by Reuters, the last month when New Delhi was allowed to load Iranian oil ahead of US sanctions stopping purchases of oil from the OPEC member.

India, Iran’s top oil client after China, shipped in about 277,600 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Tehran in April, down about 31.5 percent from the previous month, preliminary tanker arrival data from shipping and industry sources showed.

The United States introduced sanctions in November but gave a six-month waiver to eight nations, including India, which allowed them to import some Iranian oil. India was allowed to buy an average 300,000 bpd of oil during November-April, but actual volumes varied from month to month due to lack of ships after foreign shipping lines backed out of Iranian deals under pressure from US sanctions. In April, Washington asked buyers of Iranian oil, mostly in Asia, to halt purchases or face sanctions.

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