US extends Iran nuclear cooperation sanctions waivers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday renewed several waivers on U.S. sanctions against Iran, allowing Russian, European and Chinese companies to continue to work on Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities without drawing American penalties.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed off on the waiver extensions but couched the decision as one that continues restrictions on Iran’s atomic work. “Iran’s continued expansion of nuclear activities is unacceptable. The regime’s nuclear extortion is among the greatest threats to international peace and security,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Current and former officials familiar with the matter said Pompeo had opposed extending the waivers, which are among the few remaining components of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that the administration has not canceled.

However, the officials said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had prevailed in an internal debate on the subject last week by arguing that the coronavirus pandemic made eliminating the waivers unpalatable at a time when the administration is being criticized for refusing to ease sanctions to deal with the outbreak. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the decision and spoke on condition of anonymity.



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State Department on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in Washington. Pompeo said Wednesday that the Group of Seven members were all aware of China's "disinformation campaign" regarding the coronavirus outbreak, as the two countries dispute the origins of the disease. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/b767cdc13cb2cebd7a47124fcabe91e6

[underpants]

1. 👀

I’m just marking this to read up on it later. First cup of coffee, can’t dissect this yet.

Good morning Steve How’s it going with you?

[Omaha Steve]

4. Marta and I are fine

She is working from home all of April. She has been working from home 10 days already. We are lucky she can do that.

[underpants]

5. Yeah we are all at home working

Including my daughter. She has a laptop from the county schools so she’s basically still at school but from her room with the dog hanging out.

[padah513]

2. They renewed the wavers, huh?

Sure it wasn't because the other countries gave our officials the finger and kept working in Iran anyway?

[gab13by13]

3. Putin extended the waivers,

that's why I never feared we would go to war with Iran, Iran is an ally of Putin, just as Donald Trump and the Republican party are.