Jun. 29 – The United States exempted both China from its sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports on Thursday, just hours before the deadline. While explaining its decision, the U.S. State Department stated that China had significantly reduced its imports of Iranian crude, and thus like 19 other countries, deserved to be exempted from the rigors of the sanctions.
The Obama administration has now spared 20 of Iran’s major oil buyers from its sanctions. Without exemption from these sanctions, any nation that makes energy purchases through Iran’s central bank would be denied access to the U.S. financial system. The goal of the sanctions is to choke off Iran’s oil revenues, which is the life-blood of its economy and the main source of income that funds its nuclear development program. Continue reading
Jun. 28 – China and Vietnam are once again feuding over the South China Sea as Beijing fails to make progress with its neighbors on issues of territorial sovereignty in the region.
Jun. 26 – According to India’s Naval Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, who spoke at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London on Monday, the Indian Navy will soon attain a retaliatory nuclear strike capability. In reference to the three arms of India’s defense, Verma explained that this was necessary so that India has a credible and invulnerable deterrent nuclear triad in place.
Jun. 21 – Iran has commonly been labeled as a rogue state by Western powers with the country’s pursuit of nuclear power being deemed a threat to global society, and something that must be addressed immediately. While Tehran insists that the development of its nuclear capacity is only for peaceful purposes, the U.S. and its allies fear that Iran is developing nuclear weaponry. Thus the United States and the European Union have drawn up sanctions (currently scheduled to come into full force at the end of this month) that aim to pressure Iran into curtailing its nuclear development. Under the U.S. sanctions, foreign financial institutions that are doing business with Iran’s central bank to purchase energy will be barred from U.S. financial markets. The EU has similarly drafted sanctions that will ban shipments of Iranian crude. 