U.S. government teams spent three days in Saudi Arabia discussing ways to cut off money flows to Iran without disrupting energy markets as Washington presses nations to stop buying Iranian oil by Nov. 4, a senior State Department official said.
According to Bloomberg,Envoys from the State and Treasury departments and several Saudi ministries weighed measures to ensure oil markets have sufficient supply after the deadline, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks. The U.S. is working with nations including Saudi Arabia to make sure oil markets are well-supplied, the official said.
The discussions were part of the U.S. strategy to isolate Iran following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May. The U.S. has promised to bring back sanctions on Iran’s oil sector -– and punish any country that buys its oil -- by Nov. 4.
The U.S. bid to muster European support for measures against Iran will be a key task for Secretary of State Michael Pompeo as he spends two days in Brussels with Trump at the NATO summit.
