Crude prices accelerated on Tuesday after reports that the US is pushing big oil consumer nations to cut their imports from Iran following the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May.
A state department official said the US will not offer any waivers to traditional buyers of the country’s oil, after it reimposed sanctions on Iran’s energy sector and exports, which are due to kick in later this year.
US representatives are set to travel to India and China to persuade them to “go to zero”, Reuters and Bloomberg reported. This would be a change from previous years when Iran was under a previous round of sanctions and special allowances were made.