TOKYO: Japan made a second payment to Iran for crude imports under an interim nuclear deal yesterday, diplomatic sources said, as the West eases a year-long stranglehold on revenues that has crippled the Iranian economy.
Japan, which became the first of Iran’s oil buyers to make a payment to Iran last month, deposited $450m in funds owed for oil imported from Iran in a Central Bank of Iran (CBI) account, according to the sources.
Tough international sanctions over the past two years cut Iran’s oil exports in half, while US measures imposed a year ago stopped the remaining importers of Iranian oil from transferring cash to Tehran, starving Iran of hard currency and forcing it to the negotiating table over its disputed nuclear programme.
Under a November 24 agreement with six major powers, Iran won access to $4.2bn of its oil revenues frozen abroad by eight money-transfer schedules through July if it carried out its part of the deal to curb its nuclear programme.
Japan last month became the first of Iran’s oil buyers to make a payment for crude imports under the deal, sources told Reuters, with one source confirming the amount of $550m.
According to the agreement, the second and third payment schedules were March 1 for $450m and March 7 for $550m.
Reuters
