Trump expected to end Iran oil waivers, try to drive exports to zero

Mary Catherine Wellons | CNBC

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaking at the 2019 CERAWeek in Houston Texas on March 12, 2019.

The Trump administration is expected to announce on Monday that it will no longer grant sanctions waivers to a handful of Iran’s oil customers, accelerating its mission of driving the Islamic Republic’s exports to zero.

The move threatens to wipe roughly 1 million barrels per day off the market at a time when analyst say oil supply is already tightening. Crude futures spiked to nearly six month highs on the surprise news, which was first reported Sunday by the Washington Post.

President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran last May and restored wide-ranging sanctions on the Iranian economy in November. At the time, his administration granted waivers to eight countries that allowed them to continue importing limited quantities of crude oil from Iran.

The market widely expected Washington to extend the waivers for five of the countries. However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will announce Monday that any country still importing oil from Iran will be subject to U.S. sanctions beginning May 2, a senior State Department official told NBC News.

Pompeo will hold a news conference at 8:45 am ET.