US Newspaper Reduces the Usefulness of Economic Sanctions Imposed on Iran

On Saturday, an American newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor, reported that Western sanctions imposed on Iran – the third most important oil exporter in the world after Saudi Arabia and Russia, and whose economy depends mainly on oil exports – may have a limited impact if big oil importers still purchase oil from Tehran.

In its electronic edition, the newspaper said that according to the statistics from June 2011, there are five main importers of Iranian oil. First is China, which imported about 22 percent of exported Iranian oil in first half of the last year, making it the biggest importer of Iranian oil.

The newspaper confirms that China increased the import of Iranian oil while other countries like Italy and Great Britain reduced it. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the amount of Iranian oil imports and other oil products has reached around 500,000 barrels daily last year, which is more than the previous level of 426,000 barrels a day.

The newspaper indicated that despite of American pressure on the on Iranian economy, Beijing remains loyal to Tehran’s oil.

India is the second largest importer of Iranian oil, accounting for 13 percent of Iranian exports between January and June 2011 and taking in 340,000 barrels of oil a day.

The newspaper explained that the unreasonable increase of imports of Iranian oil to India in January was caused by a recent agreement wherein New Delhi pays for half of the oil it imports with rupees, allowing it to bypass international sanctions.

In third place is Japan, which imported 14 percent of Iranian oil between January and June 2011. During this period, Japan imported around 251,000 barrels a day.

The newspaper indicated that Japan imports of Iranian oil have decreased 40 percent since 2007. Despite this drop, Japan is not prepared to totally abandon Iranian oil despite prodding from the U.S. following the most recent international sanctions.

The newspaper explained that Japan pressured the U.S. to exempt it from the American embargo on international institutions that finance the sale of Iranian oil.