Iranian officials are looking into selling oil to Japan, and buyers want longer waivers from sanctions, according to sources
Three sources in Iran and the West said that potential buyers want a longer waiver and reassurances about ship safety before they will do business with Iranian companies. This delay is because of a U.S. sanctions waiver that lets Iran restart selling oil.
The waiver was given on June 22 as part of 60-day peace talks between Washington and Tehran. It will end on August 21.
Three Japanese buyers were considering buying crude oil from Iran. According to two unnamed Iranian sources, this would mark their first purchase since 2019, as the matter was sensitive.
A Western business source who is familiar with the situation said separately that Japanese and Iranian officials were in the early stages of talks about possible oil sales.
A person from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), which is in charge of fuel supply infrastructure, said they didn’t know anything about it.
Reuters asked Japan’s foreign ministry and the U.S. Treasury for comments, but neither responded right away.
When U.S. sanctions got stricter after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of Iran’s nuclear deal in 2018, Japan, South Korea, India, and many European countries stopped buying Iranian oil.
In the past few years, China has been Iran’s biggest buyer.
Risks for Hormuz
A different METI official told Reuters in June that any purchases from Japan would be up to private companies. However, they said it was unclear if such deals would go through because of shipping times and existing contracts.
The official also said that the safety of any tanker trip would have to be guaranteed.
Because of the time it takes to ship goods from Japan to Iran, a top Iranian official said that any deal would need the U.S. to extend the current waiver.
The source also said that cargo would be loaded on tankers run by Japan at Iran’s Kharg Island.
A top official in Iran’s oil ministry told Reuters that the country’s main oil company, NIOC, had contacted long-time customers, like Japan, and asked them to start buying oil again if there was a peace deal and sanctions were lifted.
The oil ministry of Iran did not answer a call for comment.
It is still not safe for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and we don’t know how it will work once a lasting peace deal is reached between Iran and the United States.
Last week, Iranian forces struck a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s most powerful group, say all ships must get their permission to pass through the strait.
The U.N.’s shipping office says there are about 80 mines that float in the water around the middle of the waterway.
A top official at a major Japanese oil refiner said that getting insurance would be the hardest part.
Analysts and trade sources say that the current temporary U.S. sanctions waiver probably won’t bring in orders from Asian refiners that already have a lot of oil on hand. Instead, independent Chinese refineries will be the main buyers.
