South Korea and Japan will soon meet U.S. officials in Washington to ask how much oil they can import from Iran under new sanctions that leave the Asian nations with few alternative sources for energy, government officials said Wednesday.
Japan is the world’s third biggest oil consumer, and South Korea is the fifth largest.
Both nations import significant amounts of crude from Iran, which they are under pressure to cut back to secure a waiver from a US law imposing sanctions on financial institutions that trade with Iran’s central bank.
President Obama was reluctant to sign off on the sanctions for the very reason that they will be a hardship to countries orhet than Iran. They will actually cause the entire world to have to buckle up and endure some hard times.
They are a drastic last step before we reach the point of actual war with Iran. The Iranians have threatened that if the sanctions are imposed that they will use their Navy to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. This would be a desperate last ditch effort which would in fact evoke some type of retailiation by the world community. The world community can’t stand by and allow this happen because a large percentage of the world’s oil has to pass through the Strait.
There is a contingency of our US Navy Ring customers in position to oppose the Iranians should they decide to attempt to block the Strait. Time will tell what happens but I certainly hope that common sense prevails.
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