Iran starting to feel bite of sanctions: US State Department

Washington (Platts)--25Jan2012/324 pm EST/2024 GMT

The US government sees early signs that Iran's economy has started to feel the pinch of international efforts to curb reliance on its petroleum exports, a State Department spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The US and European Union have enacted tougher sanctions against Iran in recent weeks to pressure Tehran into ending its controversial nuclear program, which the West believes will be used for weapons development.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters during a daily briefing that US diplomats have had some success convincing major buyers of Iranian petroleum to cut back those deals as a means of increasing the economic pressure.

"We're seeing a number of countries talking about and beginning to make alternative arrangements for their crude supply," she said. "We're also seeing...an impact on the Iranian currency as people hedge their bets. And we're seeing impacts in terms of Iran's ability to use the international financial system to fuel its exports."

Nuland declined to discuss progress on US talks with India about curtailing its Iranian oil purchases.

"We have had intensive conversations with the government of India in Delhi about this legislation, and we are continuing to work with them on how we can implement it together in a phased and managed way," she said. "I'm not going to give you an up-and-down scorecard on our consultations with each of these countries as they happen."

--Meghan Gordon, meghan_gordon@platts.com

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