Moscow has been making it a new normal of trading with highly discounted prices when it comes to oil. China and India top the list of favouring consumers of Russian oil. Throughout the war, Russia has wormed out somehow from the torrents of sanctions directed against it, at the behest of the USA. Moscow bypassed all these crises just by trading oil, and that too at a discount of an unprecedented level.
Iran’s New Move
Notwithstanding, Europe was quite in a pickle. Russia recently put a halt to the Nord Stream-1 pipeline project to Germany and was certain in their stance about not entertaining any trade unless the transaction is in Rubles.
Seeking shelter under America’s diplomatic umbrella has stumbled Europe’s calculus with Russia as the continent is braving to fight a winter with no gas in store to meet the domestic demands. Realising the gravity of the situation, the EU was getting set to quietly make amends with Russia but then out of nowhere came Tehran headlining a new tale.
Iran is slashing the price of its crude oil just to compete with the oddly low discounts that Moscow trades with. Iranian oil is now priced $10 a barrel below global benchmarks such as Brent futures, commodities traders told Bloomberg. That represents a $5 to $6 price cut since February when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia’s oil export revenues have jumped despite the price discounts, hitting $20 billion in May from $18 billion in April as market prices surged, according to the International Energy Agency.
In many ways, much like the US piled sanctions on Russia, Iran also had its share of hardships with Washington. Seeing how Russians minted money simply while being entangled in a mess would have surely run a tremor of thought through the Islamic regime to adopt the same playbook that made Russia thrive.
If not for the US-imposed hindrance, Europe would have greenlighted a trade deal with Iran. Many European countries even vowed for the JCPOA deal to happen, just for trading with Iran. But with the JCPOA deal not seeing the best of times, Europe may alter its course to strike a chord with the only saviour in sight — IRAN.
The US may indeed show their repentance to Europe’s move, but the latter won’t give a fig since siding up with the US has only given them worry over worries.
The plot gets wider
But there is more to Iran’s new move than what Europe knows. The worldly ways that Russia seeks always tend to be different. After all, it will be Russia who will be controlling the passage of Iran’s oil, no matter whatever discount Tehran wishes to trade with. Russia thus could stop the trade whenever it suits them.
Russia and Iran are strong allies that stood the test of time. Syria is further a testament to the cordial note that Russia harbours with the Islamic regime.
Make no mistake, Iranian oil will be completely backed by senior levels of the Russian Federation government and state-run economic organs, that have always acted as a critical element of Iran’s oil revenue generation.
Read more: Iran and Russia are coming up with a freight corridor that will make them sanction-proof
IRGC-QF official Rostam Ghasemi leveraged Russia-based RPP Limited Liability Company (RPP LLC) to transfer millions of dollars on behalf of the IRGC-QF from Russia.
Meanwhile, Europe seems to be cajoled by Iran’s new deal. They are far from discerning the Russian angle that lies within the plot. In the run for the greener pastures of Iran, Europe will snub Saudi, Libya, Algeria, and other oil baron countries. But the final jolt will be when it dawns upon the EU that it is Russia who is playing its new brand of heroism through the Islamic regime of Iran.
