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Iran Sanctions Strict sanctions on Iran—sanctions that primarily target Iran’s key energy sector and its access to the international financial system—harmed Iran’s economy to the point where Iran’s leaders, on November 24, 2013, accepted an interim agreement (“Joint Plan of Action,” JPA) that halts further expansion of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for temporary and modest sanctions relief. The June 14, 2013, election of Hassan Rouhani as Iran’s president was an indication of the growing public pressure on the regime to achieve an easing of sanctions. • Oil exports fund nearly half of Iran’s government expenditures and, by late 2013, sanctions had reduced Iran’s oil exports to about 1 million barrels per day—far below the 2.5 million barrels per day Iran exported during 2011. The drop was caused by a European Union embargo on purchases of Iranian oil and decisions by other Iranian oil customers to obtain exemptions from U.S.