Wanderlust

Tag: Business Finance

  • Russia sticking with Saudis amid boycotts over Khashoggi murder

    Russia is one country that is not letting the international furor over the fate of dissident Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi disrupt its ties with the oil-rich kingdom.

    Russia is one country that is not letting the international furor over the fate of dissident Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi disrupt its ties with the oil-rich kingdom.

    Even as U.S. and European officials and corporate titans were canceling their travel plans, Russian officials were out in force on the opening day of a major investment conference in Saudi Arabia championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been strongly implicated in the apparent death of the U.S.-based Mr. Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey Oct. 2.

    “Saudi Arabia is a great partner for us, not just a partner in investments or oil,” Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the Russian government’s $10 billion state-controlled sovereign investment fund, told attendees at the conference Tuesday, according to Euronews.

    “There are many Russian companies here from the petrochemical sector and other sectors. They want to invest in Saudi Arabia,” Mr. Dmitriev said.

    President Trump has faced increasing pressure to scale back U.S. diplomatic and commercial ties to Saudi Arabia in light of the Khashoggi scandal, but has cited the potential for Riyadh to turn to China and Russia as a reason for caution.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Kremlin does not have enough information to judge the level of Saudi government complicity in the journalist’s killing and other top aides have hinted the incident is an internal affair for the Saudis to deal with. Mr. Putin has tried to cultivate the 33-year-old crown prince in a bid to coordinate policy between two of the world’s biggest oil-producing nations.

    “We’ve all heard the official statements from Riyadh on the case denying members of the royal family had any role,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Moscow Times Tuesday. “We’ve taken that into account. The rest is a matter for investigators.”

  • Jamal Khashoggi crisis threatens U.S.-Saudi Arabia oil ties

    While investigators in Turkey searched the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul seeking clues to the fate of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was heading to Riyadh se

    A diplomatic crisis engulfing the world’s most critical oil supplier was the last thing the Trump administration needed.

    While investigators in Turkey searched the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul seeking clues to the fate of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was heading to Riyadh seeking answers of his own, the bigger question for the Trump administration was how to manage an incident that could irrevocably tarnish a critical ally at a critical time.

    The Khashoggi crisis has erupted as the U.S. tries to enforce a total ban next month on oil exports by Saudi archrival Iran, a critical part of the strategy to pressure Tehran after President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal still backed by most other countries. That means the U.S. needs Saudi Arabian petroleum more than ever, narrowing America’s options to punish the kingdom for its suspected role in Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance.

    Regional analysts say a U.S. move to impose economic sanctions over allegations that Mr. Khashoggi was tortured, killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate could send world oil prices surging to a record high.

    Saudi Arabia’s global image overhaul, spearheaded by the young, ambitious — and some say reckless — Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stands at a crossroads.

    The prince’s modernizing agenda is clouded by self-inflicted crises in Yemen and Qatar, a struggle for regional dominance with Iran, and the challenge of loosening political and social controls without threatening the royal family’s rule.

    As always, the kingdom’s vast crude oil reserves give it leverage and many cards to play in any high-stakes negotiation with Washington.

    “I would not say that [the Saudis] have the U.S. over a barrel, but it is certainly a symbiotic relationship,” said Sanam Vakil, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at the British-based Chatham House think tank.

    Mr. Trump also has cited Riyadh as a major customer of U.S. military exports, but oil is key in the end.

    Since Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-era Iran nuclear accord in May, the White House has pressured the kingdom to increase its daily oil production by 2 million barrels a day to make up any shortfall when energy sanctions on Iran take effect Nov. 4. The U.S. goal, restated by top State Department officials on a visit to Europe this week — to drive Iran’s oil exports down to “zero” and starve the Islamic republic of a critical source of funding.

    Petroleum Minister Khalid al-Falih announced Monday that Saudi Arabia expects to ramp up production next month, but he was vague about how much more oil would flow.

    “Saudi Arabia has the capacity to produce 12 million [barrels per day] and is currently producing 10.7 million bpd and production will rise further next month,” Mr. al-Falih said on the sidelines of an India Energy Forum after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Untested capacity

    According to energy analysts, Saudi’s maximum sustainable capacity of 12 million barrels per day has never been tested, sparking major debate about what such an effort would realistically look like.

    More questions also are swirling around the 33-year-old crown prince, who has powerful allies in Washington, including presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

    Initially welcomed in Washington foreign policy circles as a progressive reformer, the crown prince is increasingly seen as reckless, impetuous and authoritarian, said Gerald Feinstein of the Middle Eastern Institute think tank in Washington.

    Mr. Feinstein said Monday that “continuing frustration over the conflict in Yemen, the confrontation with Qatar and human rights violations at home” — all initiatives undertaken by the crown prince — made him “too toxic for Western governments and international business to deal with.”

    But Ms. Vakil said Saudis hold leverage not only in global oil markets but also at U.S. gas pumps and that the White House is showing signs of nervousness over rising gasoline prices as the Nov. 6 critical midterm congressional elections approach.

    While the U.S. has moved away from Saudi oil over the past two decades, the kingdom remains America’s No. 2 foreign oil source, supplying 9 percent of the roughly 10.14 million barrels of American imports per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    Treasury Department officials also note that Saudi Arabia now holds about $166.8 billion in Treasury securities, making Riyadh the 10th-largest foreign holder of U.S. government bonds.

    “The relationship does begin with oil,” Ms. Vakil said on the phone from London. “But the kingdom is also heavily invested in U.S. debt and bonds. They definitely have some leverage over Washington, and people realize that.”

    If Riyadh decided to dump a massive amount of U.S. debt, it could send shock waves across the Treasury markets and possibly destabilize the world’s wider financial markets.

    Trillions of dollars of more murky Saudi investments also stretch across U.S. real estate, the stock markets and the opaque world of American private equity.

    James Phillips, senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at The Heritage Foundation, said Saudi leverage is being taken into consideration as the administration mulls its response in the Khashoggi case.

    “There are a lot of levels of response that could be taken,” he said. “We could recall an ambassador or call the Saudi ambassador to the State Department. Or we could enact sanctions that do not rise to the level of impacting arms sales but clearly state that extrajudicial killings are unacceptable.”

    For now, the Khashoggi case has sparked far more questions than answers, with all sides strategically leaking as facts trickle out.

    “What we have now is a war of disinformation,” Mr. Phillips said. “It is an extremely strange case, and we need some real facts to emerge.”

  • U.S. stocks jump after two days of sharp losses; tech leads

    U.S. stocks are climbing Friday after two days of sharp losses as market favorites like Apple lead the way higher. Major indexes are up more than 1 percent, but they’re still on track for their bigges

    NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are climbing Friday after two days of sharp losses as market favorites like Apple lead the way higher. Major indexes are up more than 1 percent, but they’re still on track for their biggest one-week loss since late March.

    Technology companies recovered after taking some hard hits over the last two days. Apple climbed 2.9 percent to $220.71 and Microsoft gained 2.8 percent to $108.83. Consumer-focused companies also rallied, as Amazon jumped 4.1 percent to $1,789 and Netflix surged 5.5 percent to $338.74.

    The S&P 500 index climbed 36 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,765 at 11:20 a.m. Eastern time. The benchmark index tumbled 5.3 percent over the past two days and as of Thursday it had fallen for six consecutive days. The S&P is down 5.6 percent since from its latest record high, set Sept. 20.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 278 points, or 1.1 percent, to 25,330. The Nasdaq composite surged 149 points, or 2 percent, to 7,478. The Russell 2000 index gained 10 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,555. That index, which is made up of smaller and more U.S.-focused companies, has fallen into a 10-percent “correction” since reaching a record high at the end of August.

    On the New York Stock Exchange, winners outnumbered losers by nearly three to one.

    The market’s recent losing streak started when strong economic data and positive comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell helped set off a wave of selling in the bond market. Investors dumped bonds as they bet that the U.S. economy would keep growing at a healthy pace. The sales pushed bond prices lower and yields to seven-year highs.

    That drove interest rates sharply higher, which worried investors who felt that a big increase in interest rates could eventually stifle economic growth. Higher yields also make bonds more appealing to investors versus stocks.

    The most startling declines this week came from companies that have done very well recently, including technology companies and retailers. On Wednesday the three most valuable U.S. companies, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, each took their biggest loss in more than two years. It was a dramatic end to three months of calm on the U.S. market.

    Several other groups of stocks that have struggled this year are now in a “correction,” a drop of at least 10 percent from a recent peak. They include basic materials makers, internet companies, banks and household goods makers.

    Bond prices turned lower as the stock market stabilized. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.15 percent from 3.13 percent.

    U.S. automakers Ford and General Motors continued to slump. GM shed 0.4 percent to $32.19, its lowest in almost two years, and Ford dipped 0.1 percent to $8.81, its lowest in almost nine years. Both have fallen more than 20 percent this year as the Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum send their manufacturing costs higher.

    The stocks have fallen further in recent days following reports Ford might cut jobs. In late September, Ford CEO Jim Hackett said the steel and aluminum duties would cost the company $1 billion through 2019.

    Stocks in Europe were little changed. The French CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent and the DAX in Germany slipped 0.1 percent, while Britain’s FTSE 100 was little changed. Asian stocks climbed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.5 percent after sinking early in the day and following a nearly 4 percent loss on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 2.1 percent and the Kospi in South Korea rose 1.5 percent.

    High-dividend stocks including utilities, real estate investment trusts and household goods traded lower or rose less than the rest of the market. Those stocks held up a bit better than the S&P 500 over the last six days. Investors view them as relatively safe, steady assets that look better when growth is uncertain and the rest of the market is in turmoil.

    U.S. crude oil added 1 percent to $71.69 a barrel in in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, inched up 0.1 percent to $80.31 a barrel in London.

    The dollar rose to 112.14 yen from 111.94 yen. The euro fell to $1.1558 from $1.1594.

    ____

    Associated Press Writer Annabelle Liang contributed from Singapore.

  • U.S. gives warning of Iran efforts to evade sanctions

    With unprecedented U.S. sanctions against Iran’s oil industry set to kick in next month, the Treasury Department is warning the rest of the world to beware of dodgy money fleeing the Islamic Republic.

    With unprecedented U.S. sanctions against Iran’s oil industry set to kick in next month, the Treasury Department is warning the rest of the world to beware of dodgy money fleeing the Islamic Republic.

    Washington and Tehran are in a battle of wills over oil exports, which the U.S. is trying to cut off in the wake of President Trump’s decision in May to pull out of the 2015 multilateral deal that eased global sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran’s suspect nuclear programs.

    “Any country that allows its central bank to be involved in deception in support of [Iranian] terrorism requires the highest levels of scrutiny, particularly when the country itself is the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said Thursday.

    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued the advisory “to help financial institutions better detect and report potentially illicit transactions related to the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

    Iran and the other signatories to the deal, including Russia, China and several European allies, are trying to keep the nuclear deal alive and to make an end-run around the U.S. sanctions, but a number of major corporations have already ended this Iranian dealings for fear of losing access to the much larger American market. Even harsher penalties are set to start on Nov. 4, punishing countries who buy Iranian oil.

    On Sunday, Iran’s parliament approved a bill to tighten its laws against money laundering and terror financing, in a bid to strengthen its case that the U.S. moves are unjust. A U.N. watchdog agency has repeatedly said Iran has so far lived up to its commitments under the nuclear deal, although Washington argues Iran has pursued aggressive moves against U.S. and allied interests beyond the agreement.

    The move was strongly opposed by hardline conservatives in Tehran, who argue the provisions will hamstring the Iran’s ability to support its regional allies, including the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

    But the remaining partners from the Iran nuclear deal, have insisted that Tehran conform with the U.N.’s Terrorism Financing Conventions — the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards — if there is any change to continue doing business under the nuclear deal.

    The partners all fear U.S. sanctions, which warn other countries to be aware of Iranian “deceptive practices” to move around assets, including front companies and fraudulent documents manipulated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and top executives at the Central Bank of Iran.

    Iran is OPEC’s second largest exporter and the world’s fourth largest oil producer, but the Trump administration says it wants to completely cut off its exports.

    Some Iranian oil buyers, such as South Korea and France, have halted their purchases completely while China and India, the biggest buyers of Iranian crude, are now buying far fewer barrels.

    Iran is reportedly exploring way to subvert the U.S. restrictions, including the use of “ghost tankers” who turn off the tracking systems before entering international waters.

  • Treasury warns U.S. banks to watch for corrupt cash from Nicaragua

    The U.S. has ratcheted up the pressure on Nicaragua’s leftist government for its crackdown on political opponents, with Treasury Department officials warning American banks to be wary of corrupt offic

    The U.S. has ratcheted up the pressure on Nicaragua’s leftist government for its crackdown on political opponents, with Treasury Department officials warning American banks to be wary of corrupt officials moving cash from the embattled Central American country into the U.S. financial system.

    Specifically, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has advised financial institutions to watch for senior members of President Daniel Ortega’s government or people acting on their behalf illegally transferring assets to the U.S..

    “Given the oppressive and corrupt conduct of the Ortega regime and resulting unrest in Nicaragua, people and companies associated with or linked to the Ortega regime may try to move corruption-related assets out of Nicaragua,” FinCEN Director Kenneth A. Blanco said in the press release Thursday.

    “U.S. financial institutions are an important line of defense against corrupt and bloodstained money flowing through our system, and we are advising our partners in the financial sector to be on high alert,” Mr. Blanco said.

    Mr. Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla leader, has lost control over most of the country since April when peaceful demonstrations morphed into a revolt against his government and its allies, with more than 300 reported dead in clashes since then.

    The Trump administration has already levied sanctions against three allies of Mr. Ortega, targeting them in July for alleged human-rights abuses and corruption. A fourth official was blacklisted by Treasury for allegedly amassing huge wealth while earning a meager government salary.

  • Mexico, Canada trade deal gives Trump China leverage

    President Trump’s ability to wangle a new deal from NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada will give the White House leverage to take a harder line in the escalating trade war with China, administration bac

    President Trump’s ability to wangle a new deal from NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada will give the White House leverage to take a harder line in the escalating trade war with China, administration backers said Monday.

    “Now the focus turns to China, where President Trump can resume his negotiations from a position of strength,” said Chris Garcia, a former Commerce Department deputy director.

    He said Monday that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is a blow to Beijing because it will create more hurdles for Chinese-made auto parts to enter the U.S. market and undercut Beijing’s divide-and-conquer strategy.

    Trade analysts said a provision in the agreement dealing with currency manipulation gives Mr. Trump a template to attack Beijing for what critics say is a long pattern of driving down the yuan to benefit Chinese exporters.

    Although it’s unclear when the next round of U.S.-Chinese trade talks will occur — Beijing halted negotiations last week after Mr. Trump ordered tariffs on a fresh $200 billion in Chinese imports — Mr. Trump clearly signaled that he is ready to play hardball.

    “It’s a privilege for China to do business with us,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House while announcing the deal with Canada and Mexico.

    “China wants to talk very badly,” said Mr. Trump, crediting his willingness to use tariffs and other measures to rebalance the trading relationship between the globe’s two biggest economies. “Frankly, it’s too early to talk. Can’t talk now because they’re not ready, because they’ve been ripping us for so many years.”

    Some administration officials argued that the president now has momentum on his side as he ramps up talks with China and Japan on new trade deals.

    “The dominoes are falling, and it is good news for U.S. farmers,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement.

    But some analysts predicted that, as tumultuous as the USMCA negotiations were over recent months, a breakthrough on trade with China is likely to be even more elusive.

    “Unfortunately, the China story is a lot more complicated,” said Luis Costa, a top strategy analyst with Citibank.

    Mr. Costa argued in an interview on CNBC that the Trump administration’s immediate goals for the trade talks with China are not entirely clear.

    “What does the U.S. really want to achieve in the short term so we can finalize and mute the noise? We don’t quite know,” he said. “So I think that the story will probably be with us for years, not months.”

    Chinese officials had no immediate response to the Canada deal, and stock markets in Hong Kong and on the mainland were closed Monday. Other Asian stock markets were mixed as traders struggled to understand the deal.

    Complex problem

    China poses a problem of far greater magnitude and complexity for U.S. trade negotiators. In addition to breaking down traditional trade and tariff barriers, Washington is demanding changes to China’s rules on such matters as technology-sharing and intellectual property rights.

    Although Mr. Trump likes to highlight China’s recent economic and financial woes, Chinese President Xi Jinping faces far fewer domestic pressures to cut a deal than do the democratically elected leaders of Canada and Mexico.

    The U.S. is China’s largest single export market, taking in just under a fifth of all Chinese exports. The U.S. is the third-largest importer into China, trailing South Korea and Japan.

    The planned U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, assuming the three countries ratify it, takes off the table any hopes China may have had of enlisting Mexico City and Ottawa in a broad alliance against Mr. Trump’s trade agenda. The breakthrough over the weekend could strengthen Mr. Trump’s hand by aligning the U.S., Mexico and Canada as three-way trade partners, with China on the outside looking in.

    One area of the agreement that may have an immediate impact for China is the export of car and auto parts to the U.S. The agreement effectively caps imports from Canada and Mexico at 2.4 million vehicles and $90 billion worth of auto parts annually. Anything above that triggers a 25 percent tariff.

    The agreement also requires 75 percent of the value of vehicles sold in the U.S. to be produced within the NAFTA market and stipulates that 40 percent to 45 percent of a vehicle’s value be made in areas paying at least $16 an hour.

    A report Monday by Investors Business Daily maintained that “China is a prime target of the new auto part restrictions” that aim to “curb the use of components produced outside North America.”

    “This is a major victory for the U.S. in re-orienting the supply chain away from Southeast Asia and back to North America …,” Mr. Garcia said. “China was using Mexico to game the system.”

    Other parts of the accord also appear to have China clearly in mind. Alexandre Moreau, a public policy analyst at the Montreal Economic Institute, pointed to a provision in the agreement that may effectively block Canada and Mexico from cutting their own bilateral trade deals with China and other major trading powers.

    “That’s something that really worries me,” Mr. Moreau said in an interview on CNBC.

    Others expressed hope that the USMCA will result in such a boon for North America that such concerns are irrelevant.

    Mr. Garcia, the former U.S. Commerce Department official, argued in remarks circulated to reporters that the deal is “an effort to reorient the supply chain to North America.”

    “The de-industrialization of the United States ended last night,” he said. “This is a major victory for the U.S. in re-orienting the supply chain away from Southeast Asia and back to North America.”

  • Donald Trump drive to slash Iranian oil exports draws strong global reaction

    The Trump administration’s push to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero by strangling Tehran with sanctions stirred admiration, worry and bewilderment across the world stage this week.

    The Trump administration’s push to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero by strangling Tehran with sanctions stirred admiration, worry and bewilderment across the world this week.

    Since withdrawing the U.S. from the 2015 Obama-era nuclear agreement with Tehran in May, Washington has reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Even harsher penalties are set to start on on November 4 aimed at punishing countries who buy Iranian oil by blocking their access to U.S. markets and financial institutions.

    The White House’s aggressive measures have been potent, energy analysts agree, with data showing Iranian oil exports plunging about 35 percent since April.

    The New York Times business section acknowledged the successful strategy with a headline: “Trump Hit Iran With Oil Sanctions. So Far, They’re Working”.

    “Nearly two months before American oil sanctions go into effect, Iran’s crude exports are plummeting,” the frequent critic of Mr. Trump wrote this week. “International oil companies, including those from countries that are still committed to the nuclear agreement, are bailing out of deals with Tehran.”

    The New York Times added: “And remarkably, the price of oil in the United States has risen only modestly while gasoline prices have essentially remained flat. The current global oil price hovers around $80 a barrel, $60 below the highs of a decade ago.”

    Israel’s leading paper, Haaretz, took another angle, in an opinion: “Trump’s Iran Sanctions Policy Is Working, but America Could Regret It”.

    Haaretz economics editor David Rosenberg argued that pushing Iran’s daily oil exports down and rattling its economy is a “very dangerous game” because its Revolutionary Guard and hardline Mullahs “have a high level of tolerance for economic distress” and are unlikely to be pushed into negotiations.

    The alternative and Washington’s goal, Mr. Rosenberg contends, is regime change, which is tricky.

    “Trouble is that regime change is a risky business that can end in unexpected ways,” he wrote. “If that is what the Trump administration really wants, it is playing a very dangerous game, especially with a country as big as Iran.”

    On Thursday, Mr. Trump acknowledged a critical piece of the “Zero Iran Oil Exports” plan: Beckoning OPEC to play its part in keeping the world oil markets stable as Iran’s contribution dwindles. Iran is the group’s third largest oil producer.

    “Monopoly [OPEC] must get prices down now,” the president tweeted before the cartel’s meeting this weekend.

    An opinion for Bloomberg Markets criticized the White House’s approach in a piece on Friday: “Trump’s OPEC Tweets Mix Fear and Delusion: It’s not a monopoly, and he’s as much to blame for high prices as anybody.”

    Bloomberg’s Liam Denning said that while U.S. sanctions appear to be throttling Iran, Mr. Trump also looks nervous about oil price stability as American voters ready for November’s midterm elections.

    “Blaming OPEC is nice and, importantly, fits well inside 280 characters. But it isn’t reality,” Mr. Denning wrote.

  • Trump bid to crush Iran’s oil exports moves forward after Pompeo discusses issue with India

    The Trump administration’s drive to crush Iran’s oil exports has moved forward after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington will help India to reduce its dependence on crude imports from the I

    The Trump administration’s drive to crush Iran’s oil exports has moved forward after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington will help India reduce its dependence on crude imports from the Islamic Republic.

    “We will consider waivers where appropriate,” Mr. Pompeo said after meeting with Indian officials in New Delhi. “But it is our expectation that the purchases of Iranian crude oil will go to zero from every country, or sanctions will be imposed.”

    Washington has been re-imposing economic penalties on Tehran since President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal in May.

    In a bid to slash Iranian oil experts to zero, U.S. sanctions on Iranian petroleum are scheduled to start in November. Mr. Trump has warned that anyone who does not cut their economic ties to Iran will “risk severe consequences.”

    The strategy has caused problems for India, the world’s third-biggest energy consumer after the U.S. and China, which imports roughly 80 percent of its oil, much of it from Iran.

    Energy analysts predict that India’s post-sanctions import plans will have a major impact on how much Iranian exports drop in the coming months.

    While Washington’s forceful sanctions approach has been working on many fronts — scores of major international companies have ended their business with Tehran — India and China have been working up agreements to sidestep the penalties by importing Iranian oil from Iranian tankers.

    Reports from Reuters say Tehran has offered almost free shipping and also provided insurance, an issue because of the non-availability of coverage by Western insurers because of the re-imposed sanctions.

    The oil issue emerged front and center on Thursday in New Delhi when Mr. Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis gathered for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

    Afterward, Mr. Pompeo said U.S. oil exports offered a solution for some countries cutting ties with Iran.

    “It takes a little bit of time to unwind, and we’ll work with them, I am sure, to find an outcome that makes sense,” he said, according to a State Department transcript.

    “And from whence they purchase the other crude oil, we’re happy to see if it’s American products that are able to deliver for them,” Mr. Pompeo added. “I think that’d be a great outcome.”

    While Mr. Swaraj called the summit fruitful, he provided no details about India’s oil plans.

    The news caused reaction from Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi, who was visiting India to discuss establishing a banking workaround to U.S. sanctions.

    When asked about Mr. Pompeo’s proposals, Mr. Akhoundi dismissed Washington.

    “India and Iran’s relationship is essential for region and we are looking at ways to work together,” he said. “The U.S. is an outsider in the region, so the insiders should come together and continue their friendship.”

  • Iran seeking to sidestep U.S. sanctions with rial-backed cryptocurrency

    Iran’s Central Bank has announced details regarding its effort to launch a digital currency backed by the national currency, the rial, in response to the re-imposition of harsh economic sanctions by t

    Iran’s Central Bank has announced details regarding its effort to launch a digital currency backed by the national currency, the rial, in response to the re-imposition of harsh economic sanctions by the U.S..

    The state-supported effort has been spearheaded by the Iranian National Cyberspace Center (NCC) per order of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

    It appears to have similarities to the shadowy cryptocurrency bitcoin, because transaction will occur via the blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, which stores information about all relevant transactions across a user network.

    Tehran’s cryptocurrency, however, differs in that the Central Bank will control the issuance of new tokens, which will be backed by Iranian rials.

    “The infrastructure is supposed to be as an ecosystem available for Iranian banks,” Ibena, the Central Bank of Iran’s news wire, reported earlier this week.

    Alireza Daliri, deputy for management and investment at the Iranian Directorate for Scientific and Technological Affairs, last month told state-sponsored media Press TV that the “currency would facilitate the transfer of money (to and from) anywhere in the world” and will help Iran “at the time of sanctions.”

    Analysts have called Tehran’s entrance into the murky, unregulated world of cryptocurrencies a desperate move driven by a mounting economic crisis in the wake of the Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. In the deal, Iran had agreed to curb its nuclear programs in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions.

    The withdrawal was in May. Since then, the White House has accelerated a campaign to pressure other countries to cut their commercial and financial ties to Tehran. In early August, Washington re-imposed sanctions targeting Iran’s automotive industry, debt sector and metals trade.

    The U.S. is poised to impose far more painful sanctions on Iran’s critical oil export sector starting Nov. 5, with a stated goal of driving Iran oil and gas sales to zero.

    The uncertainty has pushed Iran’s rial to its weakest level in decades, with recent months witnessing major protests over the rising cost of basic goods.

    Subverting dollar transactions

    On Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the Islamic Republic to do more to tackle its economic problems.

    “With regards to the economy, there is need for full force, large-scale and proficient work,” he was quoted as saying by Iran’s state-sponsored Press TV.

    According to analysts, Iranian officials believe a domestic digital currency could offer a solution to moving money around the globe as Tehran becomes further isolated form the global banking system.

    But Iranian bankers have also been skittish about cryptocurrencies and initially banned bitcoin and another leading digital currency, ethereum, earlier this year out of fear of money laundering within the country.

    Earlier this month Yaya Fanusie, director of analysis at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance, wrote that “Russia probably is influencing Iran’s push toward crypto.”

    In an article for Forbes, Mr. Fanusie noted that in May, Iranian and Russian press reported that senior economic official from both countries met in Moscow just before Tehran announced its central bank intended to develop a cryptocurrency aimed at subverting dollar transactions and the international SWIFT code banking system.

    Mr. Fanusie also noted that Russian entrepreneurs recently helped Venezuela’s Maduro regime launch a state cryptocurrency.

    Not long after the Venezuela digital currency was unveiled, Mr. Trump signed an executive order banning Americans from using it.

  • Kim Jong-un accepts Donald Trump’s invite to Washington, North Korea state media says

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accepted President Trump’s invitation to visit Washington, North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday night.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accepted President Trump’s invitation to visit Washington, North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday night.

    The report came on the heels of the two leaders met for the first time in Singapore Tuesday for an historic summit on eliminating North Korea’s nuclear weapons. Mr. Trump had said he intended to invite Mr. Kim to visit the White House.

    At the summit, the two leaders signed a two-page document committing Mr. Kim to denuclearization, while Mr. Trump agreed to provide security guarantees for North Korea.