Sanctions Cost Iran $133 Million a Day in Lost Revenue

According to a recent report by Bloomberg, the US and EU sanctions have already caused a 52% fall in shipments exporting oil from Iran, equating to 1.2 million barrels per day, about $133 million worth of crude.

US Congress has now passed a new set of sanctions aimed at punishing banks, insurance companies, and shipping companies which deal with Tehran in oil trades.

Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the new sanctions seek “to tighten the chokehold on the regime beyond anything that has been done before.”

The Senate passed the bill in a unanimous vote, with the House passing it on 421-6. The bill has now been passed on to the White House to wait for President Obama’s approval and signature.

Representative Howard Berman, the top Democrat on the foreign affairs panel, has warned that “there There is more we can do, more that we will do if Iran doesn't end its nuclear weapons programme verifiably and completely.”

However China has also come out with its own warning to the US that further sanctions will damage relations, and trade between the two nations.

Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese ministry explained that “the US has invoked domestic law to impose sanctions on a Chinese financial institution, and this is a serious violation of international rules that harms Chinese interests.”

By. Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com