White House National Security Adviser Bolton: US will extend Iran nuclear waivers for 90 days

• US will extend Iran nuclear waivers for 90 days.
• Risk currencies and the price of oil hang in the balance of US/Iran relations.  

The White House National Security Adviser Bolton has made a statement saying that the  US will extend Iran nuclear waivers for 90 days.  This will  allow Russia, China and European countries to continue civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran. The waivers allow work at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, the Fordow enrichment facility, the Arak nuclear complex and the Tehran Research Reactor.

US President Donald Trump sided with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week who argued for renewing the waivers besides  objections by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton.  Mnuchin had argued to Trump that if the sanctions were not again waived as required by law by Aug. 1, the United States would have to sanction Russian, Chinese and European firms that are involved in projects inside Iran that were established as part of the 2015 nuclear deal. “These waivers can be revoked at any time, as developments with Iran warrant. But because of the Treasury Department’s legitimate concerns, we’ve decided to extend them for now,” an  official said.  

Earlier, Democratic senator Feinstein says sanctioning Iran’s Zarif is a mistake following the U.S. Treasury Department imposing  sanctions on the Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif. Zarif said that the U.S. sanctioned him because he is a threat to US  agenda.  

Market implications

Markets have been on edge ever  since the  U.S.-Iranian conflict gave rise to the prospects of a full-on war. since May, there have been several attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf, including Iran’s downing of a U.S. surveillance drone, as well as a  plan for U.S. airstrikes on Iran last month that was abandoned at the last minute by Trump, claiming he wouldn’t want so many civilian casualties.  This all gave rise to a bid in the safe-haven currencies and the price of oil.