The United States will sanction any country that tries to buy Iranian oil after the sanction waivers expired on May 2, regardless of whether said country had reached its negotiated cap under the exemptions, the U.S. Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, said, clarifying earlier comments that resulted in speculation that the U.S. would allow countries that hadn’t reached their cap of Iranian imports to continue buying oil from Iran until they reach that cap. “Our firm policy is to completely zero out purchases of Iranian oil — period,” Hook told Bloomberg News in a statement on Thursday. “Any new purchases of oil initiated after the expiration of the SREs [significant reduction exceptions] on May 2 will be subject to U.S. sanctions, even if a country had not met its previously negotiated purchase caps during the SRE period from November to May 2.” Hook’s comments came after remarks he […]