Tag: Sanctions

Muslim nations consider gold, barter trade to beat sanctions at Malaysia summit

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar are considering trading among themselves in gold and through a barter system as a hedge against any future economic sanctions on them, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday.

At the end of an Islamic summit in Malaysia, Mahathir praised Iran and Qatar for withstanding economic embargoes and said it was important for the Muslim world to be self-reliant to face future threats.

“With the world witnessing nations making unilateral decisions to impose such punitive measures, Malaysia and other nations must always bear in mind that it can be imposed on any of us,” Mahathir said.

US-allied Arab states Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar about 2-1/2-years ago over allegations it backs terrorism, a charge Doha denies. Iran, meanwhile, has been hit badly after the United States reimposed sanctions on it last year.

“I have suggested that we re-visit the idea of trading using the gold dinar and barter trade among us,” Mahathir said, referring to the Islamic medieval gold coin.

“We are seriously looking into this and we hope that we will be able to find a mechanism to put it into effect.”

The leaders agreed they needed do more business among themselves and trade in each other’s currencies.

The summit, which was snubbed by Saudi Arabia, was criticised for undermining the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which represents 57 Muslim-majority nations. Malaysia said all the OIC members had been invited to the Kuala Lumpur summit but only about 20 showed up.

By the fourth and final day of the summit, no joint statement had been released. The summit had been expected to discuss major issues affecting Muslims, including Palestine, Kashmir and the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and China’s camps for Uighur Muslims in its western Xinjiang region.

Without naming any country, Mahathir said there was concern that Muslims in non-Muslim countries were forced to undergo assimilation.

“We support integration but assimilation to the extent of shedding our religion is unacceptable,” he said.

At a news conference, he said the summit participants had been told that Uighurs were being detained in China.

“We have to hear the state, we have to hear the people who complain, then only it will be fair,” he said.

He called India’s new citizenship act unfortunate. The act facilitates for faster naturalisation of non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who had settled in India prior to 2015.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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U.S. President Donald Trump imposes sanctions on Turkey, threatens its economy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Targeting Turkey’s economy, President Donald Trump announced sanctions aimed at restraining the Turks’ assault against Kurdish fighters and civilians in Syria — an assault Turkey began after Trump announced he was moving U.S. troops out of the way.

The United States on Monday also called on Turkey to stop the invasion and declare a cease-fire, and Trump is sending Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser Robert O’Brien to Ankara as soon as possible in an attempt to begin negotiations. Pence said Trump spoke directly to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who promised not attack the border town of Kobani, which in 2015 witnessed the Islamic State group’s first defeat in a battle by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters.

“President Trump communicated to him very clearly that the United States of American wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate cease-fire and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence,” Pence said.

The Americans were scrambling for Syria’s exits, a move criticized at home and abroad as opening the door to a resurgence of the Islamic State group, whose violent takeover of Syrian and Iraqi lands five years ago was the reason American forces came in the first place.

Trump said the approximately 1,000 U.S. troops who had been partnering with local Kurdish fighters to battle IS in northern Syria are leaving the country. They will remain in the Middle East, he said, to “monitor the situation” and to prevent a revival of IS — a goal that even Trump’s allies say has become much harder as a result of the U.S. pullout.

The Turks began attacks in Syria last week against the Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom the Turks see as terrorists. On Monday, Syrian government troops moved north toward the border region, setting up a potential clash with Turkish-led forces.

Trump said Turkey’s invasion is “precipitating a humanitarian crisis and setting conditions for possible war crimes,” a reference to reports of Turkish-backed fighters executing Kurdish fighters on the battlefield.

The Kurdish forces previously allied with the U.S. said they had reached a deal with President Bashar Assad’s government to help them fend off Turkey’s invasion, a move that brings Russian forces deeper into the conflict.

In his sanctions announcement, Trump said he was halting negotiations on a $100 billion trade deal with Turkey and raising steel tariffs back up to 50%. Trump also imposed sanctions on three senior Turkish officials and Turkey’s defense and energy ministries.

“I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path,” Trump said.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions will hurt an already weak Turkish economy. Pence said the U.S. will continue to ramp up the sanctions “unless Turkey is willing to embrace a cease-fire, come to the negotiating table and end the violence.”

American troops consolidated their positions in northern Syria on Monday and prepared to evacuate equipment in advance of a full withdrawal, a U.S. defense official said.

The official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said U.S. officials were weighing options for a potential future counter-IS campaign, including the possibility of waging it with a combination of air power and special operations forces based outside Syria, perhaps in Iraq.

The hurried preparations for a U.S. exit were triggered by Trump’s decision Saturday to expand a limited troop pullout into complete withdrawal.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday he would travel to NATO headquarters in Brussels next week to urge European allies to impose “diplomatic and economic measures” against Turkey — a fellow NATO ally — for what Esper called Ankara’s “egregious” actions.

Esper said Turkey’s incursion had created unacceptable risk to U.S. forces in northern Syria and “we also are at risk of being engulfed in a broader conflict.”

The only exception to the U.S. withdrawal from Syria is a group of perhaps 200 troops who will remain at a base called Tanf in southern Syria near the Jordanian border along the strategically important Baghdad-to-Damascus highway. Those troops work with Syrian opposition forces unrelated to the Kurdish-led fighters in northern Syria.

Esper said the U.S. withdrawal would be done carefully to protect the troops and to ensure no U.S. equipment was left behind. He declined to say how long that might take.

In a series of tweets Monday, Trump defended his gamble that pulling U.S. forces out of Syria would not weaken U.S. security and credibility. He took sarcastic swipes at critics who say his Syria withdrawal amounts to a betrayal of the Kurds and plays into the hands of Russia.

“Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting the Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte,” he wrote. “I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away!”

Trump has dug in on his decision to pull out the troops, believing it fulfills a key campaign promise and will be a winning issue in the 2020 election, according to White House officials.

This has effectively ended a five-year effort to partner with Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters to ensure a lasting defeat of the Islamic State group. Hundreds of IS supporters escaped a holding camp amid clashes between invading Turkish-led forces and Kurdish fighters, and analysts said an IS resurgence seemed more likely, just months after Trump declared the extremists defeated.

Trump spoke about the IS detainees in a phone call Monday with Kurdish General Mazloum Kobani. Pence said Mazloum assured the president that Kurdish forces would continue to support the prisons holding IS fighters.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, normally a staunch Trump supporter, said he was “gravely concerned” by events in Syria and Trump’s response so far.

Withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria “would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy and invite the resurgence of ISIS,” he said in a statement. “And such a withdrawal would also create a broader power vacuum in Syria that will be exploited by Iran and Russia, a catastrophic outcome for the United States’ strategic interests.”

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump is weakening America. “To be clear, this administration’s chaotic and haphazard approach to policy by tweet is endangering the lives of U.S. troops and civilians,” Menendez said in a statement.

However, Trump got quick support from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who earlier had lambasted his withdrawal decision as “shortsighted,” ”irresponsible” and “unnerving to its core.” Graham said he was asked to join the president and his team for phone calls with the key leaders in the conflict.

“President Trump made it clear to President Erdogan this incursion is widely unpopular in the United States, greatly destabilizing to the region, is putting in jeopardy our successes against ISIS, and will eventually benefit Iran,” Graham said.

The Kurds have turned to the Syrian government and Russia for military assistance, further complicating the battlefield.

The prospect of enhancing the Syrian government’s position on the battlefield and inviting Russia to get more directly involved is seen by Trump’s critics as a major mistake. But he tweeted that it shouldn’t matter.

“Others may want to come in and fight for one side or the other,” he wrote. “Let them!”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US imposes sanction on Pakistan; may deny visas to Pakistanis

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US has imposed sanctions on Pakistan after Islamabad refused to take back its citizen deportees and visa over-stayers from America, warning that it may withhold visas of Pakistanis beginning from its senior officials.

The state department on Friday said consular operations in Pakistan remain unchanged as of now.

However, as a result of such a sanction mentioned in a Federal Register notification dated April 22, the US may withhold visas of Pakistanis beginning with its senior officials.

Pakistan is the latest to join the list of 10 nations that have been imposed with sanctions under a US law according to which countries refusing to take back deportees and visa over-stayers will be denied American visas.

Notably, eight of these countries have been slapped with such visa sanctions under the Trump administration. Two of them Ghana and Pakistan have been included in the list this year.

The other countries include Guyana in 2001, the Gambia in 2016, Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea, and Sierra Leone in 2017, Burma and Laos in 2018.

Under Section 243 (d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the secretary of state is required to discontinue granting immigration or non-immigrant visas to a nation upon receiving notice from the homeland security secretary that the country has denied or is unreasonably delaying accepting a citizen, subject, national or resident of that country.

The state department tried to downplay the impact of the sanctions on Pakistan.

“Consular operations in Pakistan remain unchanged, a state department Spokesperson told PTI when asked about the federal register notification.

This is a bilateral issue of ongoing discussion between the US and Pakistani governments and we are not going to get into the specifics at this time, the spokesperson added.

Former Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, feels that this will make things difficult for Pakistanis.

This measure will create hardship for Pakistanis who want or need to travel to the US and could have been avoided if Pakistani authorities had not ignored American requests to respect their legal requirements for deportation, Haqqani told PTI, days after the federal register notification.

He said that Pakistan’s refusal to accept it’s citizen deported from the US is not new.

Pakistan’s refusal to accept every Pakistani citizen deported from the US is not new. It seems that the US is no longer willing to overlook a wide range of official Pakistani behaviour. Bonhomie has been replaced by sanctions and restrictions based on Islamabad’s policy decisions, Haqqani said.

While the law in this regard has been under existence since 1996, it is only in last several years that there had been increasing demand from lawmakers towards its enforcement against countries that had refused to accept deportees and visa over-stayers.

In the last few years, India has been taking such deportees on special planes at regular intervals.

The Trump administration after coming to power had said that it will strictly enforce such provisions by denying visas to people from those countries that refuse it accepting deportees and visa over-stayers.

While section 243 (d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was used only twice before 2017, the Trump Administration has been effective in using this provision on many countries, including Pakistan.

However, the State Department federal register notification indicates that the number of visa denial under this sanction is far less.

Since the law was modified to cover non-immigrant visas in 1996, 318 visa applicants have been affected, the notification said.

During this same time period, tens of millions of aliens have received non-immigrant visas including, collectively, millions of applicants from the 10 countries affected,? the notification said.

The federal register notification said that there is no set formula, though, notably State has never issued a blanket refusal for visas from the country in question.

For some countries, sanctions begin by targeting officials who work in the ministries responsible for accepting the return of that country’s nationals with escalation scenarios that target family members of those officials and potentially officials of other ministries and then other categories of applicants if initial sanctions do not prove effective at encouraging greater cooperation on removals by the targeted government, the notification said.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

North Korea leader lambasts ‘brigandish’ sanctions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attacked “hostile forces” over “brigandish” sanctions, state media reported today, as Washington seeks to maintain pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear programme.

Kim and US President Donald Trump held a ground-breaking summit in Singapore in June, which the US leader touted as a historic breakthrough.
But there has been little movement since and the North has criticised Washington for its “gangster-like” demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament.

The US has urged the international community to maintain tough sanctions on the isolated regime, and the US Treasury this week announced measures against Russian and Chinese companies for violations.

On a visit to the construction site of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area, Kim rebuked what he called “hostile forces” for “trying to stifle the Korean people through brigandish sanctions and blockade”, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

But Pyongyang is keen to preserve what it calls a “new era” of relations with the US and Kim stopped short of criticising the country by name.
Wonsan-Kalma is a vast development on the North’s east coast, which Kim ordered to be ready by October 10 next year, an important public holiday which marks the founding of a precursor to the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Russia’s Rusal shuts down Nadvoitsky plant due to US sanctions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Russia’s Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer outside China, has started shutting down production at one of its smaller plants as a result of U.S. sanctions on the company, Rusal representatives said on Monday.

Operations at the Nadvoitsky aluminium smelter in Russia’s Karelia region cannot continue as the plant lost access to its end market and to a steady supply of raw materials ever since Washington imposed sanctions on Rusal on April 6, the company said.

Under the sanctions, designed to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, U.S. customers must wind down business with Rusal by Oct. 23.

Production at the Nadvoitsky plant was completely oriented towards the U.S. market, Rusal said.

“As a result, since April 2018, Nadvoitsky has been sending all of its production to stock, generating significant losses,” a company representative said in a comment to Reuters.

“Rusal was forced in August to begin closing down electrolysis pots at Nadvoitsky,” Rusal said.

The plant has a workforce of 343 people and is the primary source of employment in the town of Nadvoitsy, which lies 485 km north of St Petersburg, according to data from the state Monotown Development Foundation.

“Employees of the plant will not suffer despite (the shutdown), as the company will take an individual approach staff job placement,” Rusal said, adding that employees will either be offered jobs at a different company, assisted with finding work in other parts of the country, or provided with a pay-out agreed by both sides.

“The company … will provide each person with the opportunity to remain employed, primarily as part of the project to reprofile Nadvoitsky and create profitable businesses using the plant’s infrastructure,” Rusal said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US warns Russia, others on enforcing sanctions against North Korea

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today warned Russia, China and other countries against any violation of international sanctions on North Korea that could reduce pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear weapons.

Pompeo’s comments came on the heels of a new United Nations report that found North Korea has not stopped its nuclear and missile programs and is violating UN sanctions, including through illicit ship-to-ship transfers of oil.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Asian security forum in Singapore, Pompeo told reporters that the US has new, credible reports that Russia is violating UN sanctions by allowing joint ventures with North Korean companies and issuing new permits for North Korean guest workers.

He said Washington would take “very seriously” any violations, and called for them to be roundly condemned and reversed.

“If these reports prove accurate, and we have every reason to believe that they are, that would be in violation,” Pompeo said, noting that the UN Security Council had voted unanimously in favour of the sanctions.

“I want to remind every nation that has supported these resolutions that this is a serious issue and something we will discuss with Moscow. We expect the Russians and all countries to abide to the UN Security Council resolutions and enforce sanctions on North Korea,” he said.

“Any violation that detracts from the world’s goal of finally, fully denuclearising North Korea would be something that America would take very seriously.”

At the United Nations, meanwhile, a summary of a report by experts monitoring UN sanctions against North Korea was sent to the Security Council yesterday that said North Korea is continuing with both its nuclear and missile programmes.

And, in addition to the oil transfers, it said the North was violating sanctions by transferring coal at sea and flouting an arms embargo and financial sanctions.

Late yesterday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley raised the alarm, saying that “talk is cheap.”

”Russia cannot support sanctions with their words in the Security Council only to violate them with their actions,” she said in a statement.

She made the remarks as the US asked the Security Council to add a North Korean bank executive, a North Korean company, a Chinese company and a Russian bank to the UN sanctions blacklist.

In his discussions with Southeast Asian officials in Singapore, Pompeo said he had implored them all to “strictly enforce all sanctions,” including an end to ship-to-ship transfers of oil for North Korea, and had been encouraged by the response.

Despite the warning to Russia, Pompeo said he remained optimistic that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will follow through on his pledge to President Donald Trump to denuclearise. But he said the timeline for the North’s full and final denuclearization remains a work in progress.

Earlier, in an interview with a Singapore’s Channel News Asia, Pompeo had said the pace for the dismantlement of the North’s nuclear weapons programme would rest with Kim.

“The ultimate timeline for denuclearisation will be set by Chairman Kim, at least in part,” he said. “The decision is his.”

At the news conference, however, Pompeo appeared to step back from that comment, noting that the timeline is subject to negotiation between Washington and Pyongyang.

He recalled that Kim had committed to denuclearisation at the historic summit with Trump on June 12 in Singapore and that both sides “have been working since then to develop the process through which that will be achieved.”

“The process of achieving denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is one that I think we have all known will take some time,” Pompeo said, adding later: “I am optimistic that we will get this done in a timeline and the world will celebrate what the UN Security Council has demanded.”

Pompeo said yesterday that while there’s “still a ways to go,” the United States remains “confident” in North Korea’s commitment to denuclearise.

On Thursday, the White House announced that Trump had received a new letter from Kim and had responded quickly with a letter of his own. The correspondence came amid fresh concerns over Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearisation despite a rosy picture of progress painted by Trump.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Merkel condemns Iran tweet but still backs nuclear deal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she condemns a tweet from Iran’s top leader saying that Israel is a “cancerous tumor” that needs to be removed and pledged to increase pressure on Tehran to scale back its military influence in the region.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Merkel said Israel’s security was a top priority for Germany. The two leaders were asked about a tweet Sunday from the account of Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying his country’s “stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken.

Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen.” The Twitter account is run by Khamenei’s office and it’s not known if he dictates the tweets himself. The quote is from several years ago. Netanyahu called the tweet “quite extraordinary.”

“Iran calls for our destruction, but it’s also seeking nuclear weapons to carry out its genocidal design,” he said. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, and the U.N. says it has met its obligations under the 2015 nuclear accord with world powers, which requires it to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. Netanyahu was a staunch opponent of the deal, and welcomed the Trump administration’s decision last month to withdraw from it.

Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China, which also signed the agreement, have said they want to preserve it. Merkel said “we sharply condemn what the Iranian leadership said,” but at the same time reiterated her view that the nuclear agreement was the best way to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons. “We are not in agreement on all questions, but we are friends, we are partners,” Merkel said of the visiting Israeli leader. The other co-signers of the nuclear agreement met last month in Vienna after the U.S. pulled out of the deal, reaffirming their commitment to it.

Netanyahu suggested the deal was bound to collapse without U.S. involvement, but said he agreed with Merkel that “Iran’s aggressions” needed to be kept in check. “We have some disagreements, as you can see, but they’re not really on goal, they’re more on method,” he said. Netanyahu has argued that the economic relief provided under the nuclear deal has allowed Iran to expand its military interference across the region, where it backs the Syrian government as well as armed groups like the Lebanese Hezbollah.

Berlin was Netanyahu’s first stop in a European trip to try and turn key allies Germany, France and Britain to his way of thinking on the Iran deal. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said France will insist on having a dialogue with Iran. The possible unraveling of the nuclear deal has raised concerns that the U.S. or Israel might resort to war if Iran ramps up its nuclear activities.

Khamenei, who makes the final decisions on all major policies in Iran, on Monday warned that anyone who fires one missile at his country “will be hit by 10” in response, but dismissed fears of war as “propaganda” by the West. Khamenei said in a speech that he has ordered atomic authorities to increase the country’s nuclear enrichment capacity.

The increase he detailed in his speech would not exceed limits set by the nuclear accord. The supreme leader also reiterated his support for the country’s ballistic missile program. One of the main objections made by critics of the nuclear deal was that it did not address the missile program, which Israel and Gulf countries view as a threat. “Production of various missiles and missile power provides security,” Khamenei said.

Earlier Monday, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency renewed calls for Iran to provide “timely and proactive cooperation” in inspections that are part of the nuclear deal. At a news conference later, Yukiya Amano said his statement was “not an expression of concerns or complaints, but rather an encouragement to Iran.” Last month, in its first report since the U.S. withdrawal, the IAEA said Iran continues to stay below the maximum level of uranium the deal allows it to enrich. The agency’s report also said Iran appears to be fulfilling other obligations, but is slow when it comes to “complementary access” inspections.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

London Stock Exchange cancels plans to suspend En+ GDRs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The London Stock Exchange said on Friday that it would cancel plans to suspend trading in global depositary receipts (GDRs) of En+, following a decision by the US Treasury Department to give U.S. investors more time to divest from the company which is affected by sanctions against Russia.

Washington imposed sanctions on some of Russia’s biggest companies and businessmen, including London-listed En+, on April 6, striking at allies of President Vladimir Putin to punish Moscow for alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other so-called malign activities.

The LSE has postponed the suspension of En+ GDRs before, but this time it did not say whether a suspension would take effect at a future date.

“The Exchange will not suspend the trading of En+ Group GDR… on Friday 1 June 2018,” it said in a statement.

“The Exchange will continue to monitor the situation and is in communication with the UK authorities.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Oil hits 3-1/2 year high after US quits Iran deal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Oil prices rose more than 2% on Wednesday, climbing to near 3-1/2 year highs, after US President Trump abandoned a nuclear deal with Iran and announced the “highest level” of sanctions against the OPEC member.

Ignoring pleas by allies, Trump on Tuesday pulled out of a 2015 international deal with Iran, making investors nervous about rising risks of conflict in the Middle East and about oil supplies in a tight market.

The United States will likely re-impose sanctions against Iran after 180 days, unless some other agreement is reached.

Brent crude futures rose $2.02 to $76.87 a barrel, a 2.7% gain, by 10:52 a.m. EST (1452 GMT). The session high of $77.43 a barrel was the highest since November 2014.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 2.6%, or $1.79 to $70.85 a barrel.

Prices extended gains after US Energy Information Administration data showed domestic crude inventories fell 2.2 million barrels in the latest week, far exceeding forecasts for a decrease of 719,000 barrels.

The EIA report helped lift US gasoline futures to $2.1674 a gallon, the highest since Hurricane Harvey sent prices surging in August. US heating oil futures surged to $2.2258 a gallon, the highest since February 2015.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose 1.4 million barrels, EIA said.

Iran re-emerged as a major oil exporter in 2016 after international sanctions against it were lifted in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. The country, the third-biggest producer of crude within the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, exported about 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in April.

Analysts’ estimates of the possible reduction in Iranian crude supplies as a result of any new US sanctions range from 200,000 bpd to 1 million bpd.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a note that Trump’s announcement brought upside risks to its forecast that Brent crude will hit $82.50 a barrel by the summer.

Several refiners in Asia said they were seeking alternatives to Iranian supplies.

A number of countries have already cut reliance on Iranian oil, as well as other “traditional” sources of supply, due to a surge in cheaper US crude exports.

Volumes jumped for all key crude oil futures contracts as investors took new positions and refiners hedged to protect themselves from higher feedstock prices.

Saudi Arabia said it would work with other producers to lessen the impact of any shortage in oil supplies. The country has been leading efforts since 2017 to withhold production to prop up prices.

Kuwaiti oil minister Bakhit al-Rashidi said his country will work with OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers to limit impact of any possible shortage in supplies, state news agency KUNA reported.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trump pulls US from Iran nuclear deal, to revive sanctions

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was reimposing economic sanctions on Iran and pulling the United States out of an international agreement aimed at stopping Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.

The decision is likely to raise the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upset America’s European allies and disrupt global oil supplies.

“I am announcing today that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said at the White House. “In a few moments, I will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating US nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime. We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanctions.”

The 2015 deal, worked out by the United States, five other international powers and Iran, eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.

Trump says the agreement, the signature foreign policy achievement of Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, does not address Iran’s ballistic missile program, its nuclear activities beyond 2025 nor its role in conflicts in Yemen and Syria.

Iran has ruled out renegotiating the agreement and threatened to retaliate, although it has not said exactly how, if Washington pulled out.

Renewing sanctions would make it much harder for Iran to sell its oil abroad or use the international banking system.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow