US takes Iran’s ex-oil partner off sanctions list

The United States has removed a Belarusian oil company with previous cooperation with Iran off its sanctions list.

The state-owned Belarusian energy company, Belarusneft faced US sanctions in 2011 for its involvement in Iran’s petroleum sector.

“The secretary of state has decided to terminate sanctions imposed … on Republican Unitary Enterprise Production Association Belarusneft (a.k.a. Belarusneft, a.k.a. Belorusneft) on the basis that the company is no longer engaging in sanctionable activity,” Washington said Tuesday.

The US State Department imposed sanctions on Belorusneft after it entered into a $500 million contract with NaftIran Intertrade Company in 2007 for the development of Iran’s Jofeir oilfield, reports say.

The sanctions barred Belorusneft from receiving aid from the US Export-Import Bank, obtaining US government export licenses, getting private US bank loans of more than $10 million in any 12-month period and from winning US government contracts.

The United States and the European Union have imposed several rounds of economic sanctions on Iran in a bid to stop the country from pursuing its peaceful nuclear program. Iran has repeatedly challenged the legality of the sanctions as the country has performed its obligations under the international treaties on nuclear activities.