U.S. Grants 60-Day Iran Oil Sanctions Waiver, Bars Trade With North Korea

Treasury chief says Iran pledged to keep Hormuz open and readmit IAEA inspectors

Dollar payments allowed through Aug. 21

The U.S. government will temporarily waive oil-related sanctions on Iran for the duration of negotiations to end the war.

The step follows Iran's agreement to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, to reenter the country.

The waiver will not apply to oil flows or indirect transactions involving North Korea, Cuba and other allied states.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X on June 22 that, as part of productive talks in Switzerland, Iran had pledged to guarantee free and open passage through the Strait of Hormuz and accept the return of IAEA inspectors.

He also announced that the Treasury Department had issued a 60-day temporary general license allowing the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil.

Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. negotiating team, told reporters after the talks that Iran had agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into the country.

Their work is due to begin later this week. Vance added that the two sides had also set up mechanisms to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and prevent regional clashes, including in Lebanon.

The Treasury waiver expires at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 21.

During that period, Iran will be allowed to sell its oil products in the official market and receive payment in U.S. dollars.

Markets do not expect Iran to sharply increase oil exports immediately.

During the war, a U.S. naval blockade may have filled storage facilities to capacity and forced the shutdown of some wells.

Even so, the move stands to bring Iran a significant economic gain. The country had been selling crude unofficially to China and others at discounted prices through a shadow fleet to evade sanctions. It can now sell those barrels formally at market prices.

Access to the dollar-based payment system may also ease Iran's foreign-currency shortage, which had driven a sharp rise in the exchange rate.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in its notice that the waiver does not apply to individuals or institutions in North Korea, Cuba, Crimea, or Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia or claimed by Moscow as annexed.

The restriction appears intended to prevent North Korea and Cuba from benefiting from the sanctions relief by buying Iranian oil.

The U.S. included similar exclusions for North Korea and Cuba when it allowed sales of Iranian crude for one month in March to help curb oil prices.

Still, some U.S. monetary and capital-markets specialists have raised concerns about the measure.

Miad Maleki, a former Treasury official who worked on Iran sanctions, told The Wall Street Journal that the waiver effectively exempts financial institutions, including Iran's central bank, not only from sanctions tied to nuclear activity but also from measures targeting terrorism.

That would mark a fundamental departure from the Iran sanctions framework Congress built over the past two decades, Maleki said.

Daniel Tannenbaum, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told The New York Times that the sanctions relief appeared hasty compared with the Iran nuclear deal, or JCPOA, reached under former President Barack Obama and later scrapped during President Donald Trump's first term.

The Journal said the move could revive concerns that Iran is receiving substantial economic benefits before giving up part of its nuclear program.

Park Sang-kyung, Hankyung.com reporter highseoul@hankyung.com