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US firms get rich off Iran sanctions

US COMPANIES are set to see bumper profits due to Washington’s punitive sanctions regime against Iran, which were imposed after the collapse of a nuclear deal last year.

Drilling companies will see their market value increase by billions of dollars after the White House announced that it will not renew sanctions waivers granted to eight countries allowing them to import oil from Iran.

Companies in states including Texas, Oklahoma and California look set to be the main winners from tougher US sanctions on Iranian oil importers.

US President Donald Trump moved to reimpose punitive measures on Tehran after he pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — an agreement allowing monitoring of Iran’s nuclear programme — in May 2018.

Profits for US energy companies have since increased and they are among the biggest beneficiaries of sanctions being used to cripple Iran as Washington increases pressure.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently admitted that US international relations were guided by a search for profit: “US businesses need access to markets all across the world. President Trump is determined to open those markets for our products,” he told an audience at a Texas conference earlier this month.

He went on to say that the US had “1,600 economic officers stationed all across the world” in a bid to “persuade” governments to open their markets to US private companies.

Bloomberg reported that Brent crude-oil contracts jumped to a six-month high with the announcement that Washington will not renew the waivers that expire in May to Turkey, Italy, Greece, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

The eight countries will have to look for alternative sources of crude oil, which may lead to implications for the OPEC+ agreement to reduce production, which ends at the beginning of July.

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