EU Could Switch To Euros In Oil Trade With Iran

 

The European Union (EU) is considering switching to euros instead of U.S. dollars in the oil trade with Iran, Sputnik reported on Wednesday, quoting a diplomatic source.

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Iran, for its part, said as early as in mid-April that it would be switching to euros from U.S. dollars in reporting foreign currency amounts, to reduce the reliance on the dollar as it was expected that President Trump would not waive the sanctions this time around.

The EU vowed on Tuesday to seek ways to work and trade with Iran.

Iran Threatened To Name Politicians Who Took Bribes To Pass Nuclear Deal

The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2018

 

President Trump announced early this week that the US will withdraw from the deceptive Iranian nuclear deal. President Trump made his position on the terrible Iran deal clear during his 2016 campaign.

This didn’t stop former Secretary of State John Kerry from acting as a rogue government agent against the Trump administration, in order to redeem the lame deal with the oppressive Iranian regime.

Can US Russian Sanctions Start A Financial Crisis?

 

The US sanctions against Russia are pointless and are placing the West at risk the politicians are too stupid to even comprehend. Already, some Russian companies have asked the government for liquidity injections of up to $2 billion. Even the world’s second-largest aluminum producer Rusal has asked for help. Nevertheless, the impact of sanctions goes beyond the internal borders of Russia for they also impact the international financial markets.

Trump Admin Preparing to Kill Iran Nuclear Deal If Europeans Refuse to Fix Agreement

Getty Images

 

Insiders worry Trump admin will cave to Europeans

The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to abandon the landmark nuclear deal with Iran if European allies fail to fix the agreement and close key loopholes that have allowed the Islamic Republic to continue sensitive nuclear research and develop advanced ballistic missiles, according to senior administration officials and top lawmakers who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon about sensitive ongoing diplomatic talks.

Senior Trump administration officials have been pressuring European allies to agree to a range of fixes to the nuclear deal that would address Iran’s military intervention across the Middle East, as well as its ongoing efforts to develop advanced ballistic missile technology that could be used to carry a nuclear weapon.

Official warns Iran will withdraw from nuclear deal if ‘no economic benefit’

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi / YJC

 

Iran has threatened to withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers if there is no economic benefit from it and major banks continue to fail to do business with Tehran.

Get real: U.S. commander in Korea says Kim in hot pursuit of unified communist nation

Adm. Harry Harris. / AP

 

Kim Jong-Un has put on a charm offensive at the Winter Games while extracting money from South Korea under the guise of reunification, the leader of U.S. Pacific Command said.

But the North Korean leader’s goal goes beyond preventing regime change, he said. Rather, he is focused on the ultimate goal of a “single, communist system” on the Korean Peninsula.

Adm. Harry Harris told the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. 14 that he does not agree with the prevailing view that Kim is building a nuclear arsenal to safeguard his regime only.

Report: China Moves 300,000 Troops Closer to North Korean Border

VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP/Getty Images

 

China is reportedly moving missile defense batteries and troops closer to its border with North Korea, a potential sign that Beijing anticipates either a large refugee wave north or a military disturbance triggered by the belligerence of communist dictator Kim Jong-un.

The South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo cited Radio Free Asia (RFA) in a report Monday, stating that RFA had compiled evidence that China had “late last year deployed another missile defense battery at an armored division in Helong, west of Longjing in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.”

The “North Korean source in China” speaking to RFA also noted that Pyongyang had observed the movement of 300,000 troops closer to the North Korean border and “missile defense batteries near North Korean reservoirs by the Apnok and Duman rivers.” The batteries would prevent the violent outpouring of those reservoirs into China in the event of an airstrike.

North Korea Is Proof That More Sanctions on Iran Won’t Work

 

President Donald Trump’s expected “de-certification” of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal today is rooted in the belief that sanctions on Iran are the only cure to halting the Middle Eastern nation’s weapons program.

A White House statement released yesterday supports this sentiment as well:

“We will work to deny the Iranian regime – and especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – funding for its malign activities, and oppose IRGC activities that extort the wealth of the Iranian people. We will counter threats to the United States and our allies from ballistic missiles and other asymmetric weapons.”

South Korea Warns Trump Only It Can Declare War On North

 

A day after US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford promised him that the US would exhaust all diplomatic options, including another round of UN sanctions, before resorting to a “military solution” in its simmering conflict with North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in reminded Washington during a forceful Tuesday speech that the US would need to seek, and receive, South Korea’s consent before risking another armed conflict on the Korean peninsula, signaling his country will no longer stay quiet as tensions escalate with its northern neighbor.

As Bloomberg summarizes, “Moon asserted the right to veto any military action against Kim Jong Un’s regime, saying that decision should be made by “ourselves and not by anyone else.” He vowed to prevent war at any cost – a statement that drew a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump, who has warned of “fire and fury” if North Korea continues to threaten the U.S.”

Russia Eyes Rapid Middle East Energy Expansion

Graph 1. Russian Participation within the framework of the Iran Petroleum Contract.

 

Having battled through the travails of an ever-tightening sanctions regime and a prolonged economic downturn, which in most cases led to a freezing up or lowering of expenditures and the adoption of a very risk-averse investment strategy, Russian companies are now destined to embark upon a new expansion, this time in the Middle East. With the recently imposed U.S. sanctions further impacting Russia’s ability to form partnerships with Western majors, Iran, Iraq and possibly even Syria will become the new hub of Russian oil-related investments. Immensely rich in oil, yet lacking the funds necessary to exploit it, virtually unsanctionable for any potential cooperation with Russian companies (even sanctions vis-à-vis Iraq are implausible given the ongoing fight against the Islamic State) and brought ever closer together politically on the back of recent developments in the region, the Middle East-Russia axis is bound to get stronger with time.

Russia To Cut Dependence On U.S. Dollar, Payment Systems

 

Quoted by Reuters, Ryabkov said that “we will of course intensify work related to import substitution, reduction of dependence on U.S. payment systems, on the dollar as a settling currency and so on. It is becoming a vital need.” The reason for that is that “the US is using its dominating role in the monetary and financial system to impose pressure on foreign business, including Russian companies.”

Trump administration ‘not playing around’ on North Korea

U.S Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley praised new sanctions against North Korea as a sign that the international community is seriously addressing the threat of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

“It is time for North Korea to realize, we are not playing anymore,” Haley said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.”

The sanctions largely target North Korea’s major exports such as coal, iron and seafood, Haley said.

EU prepares to unleash ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’ on Hungary: Brussels loses patience with Orban

The EU is considering removing Hungary’s voting rights [GETTY]

 

THE EUROPEAN UNION is considering the extraordinary step of stripping Hungary of its voting rights in Brussels following a “serious deterioration” in the country’s stance with the bloc.

MEPs last night voted heavily in favour of taking sanctions against the state for a “serious and persistent” breach in EU values including accepting migration quotas.

These sanctions could involve reducing voting rights for EU diplomats, known around Brussels as the “nuclear option”. 

EU Gearing up for Sanctions on Hungary

Ikars / Shutterstock.com

 

Escalating tensions within the bloc.

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It would be an extraordinary move. Brussels has long targeted hugely popular Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who has been steadfast in strengthening Hungary’s borders and recently re-asserted the right of nation states to determine their own futures rather than the European Union.

The Sanctions Debate

BERLIN/MOSCOW (Own report) – In the prelude to Chancellor Merkel’s visit to Russia, German business associations and foreign policy experts are urging that the policy of sanctions be ended. They argue that sanctions practically have become ineffective, since Russia’s economy has withstood these trade restrictions and is now even recovering. The boycott has also damaged the EU’s image and that of the USA in Russia and, even though intended to weaken, it has helped to stabilize the Russian government. Moreover, Russian orders, that German businesses had once expected, were increasingly going to competitors, for example in China – and are ultimately lost. However, German economists still see Russia as a lucrative market. According to an analysis by the Bertelsmann Foundation and Munich’s ifo Institute, a free-trade agreement between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), congregated around Russia, would generate a growth of 45 billion euros. Government advisors recommend that the sanctions policy be gradually ended. This would not eliminate the prospect that Moscow, at any time, could be forced to its knees with an arms race.