(1) Special Briefing on Iran Sanctions by Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven T Mnuchin via Teleconference. US De[artment of State, Nov 2, 2018.
https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/11/287090.htm
(a) SECRETARY POMPEO: " * * * We expect to issue some temporary allotments to eight jurisdictions, but only because they have demonstrated significant reductions in their crude oil and cooperation on many other fronts and have made important moves towards getting to zero crude oil importation.
(b) QUESTION: " * * * you pointedly said that you were granting the exceptions to eight jurisdictions. Is one of those jurisdictions the European Union, thereby covering a much larger group of countries, i.. 28 EU member-states?
"SECRETARY POMPEO: * * * we will provide the list of the eight jurisdictions on Monday. The EU will not be receiving an SRE [Significant Reduction Exemptions wavers].
Note: Taiwan was not mentioned. Mnuchin did not use the word jurisdiction -- only questioners and Pompeo did.
(2) Press Release, Press Availability With Secretary of Treasury Steven T Mnuchin. US Department of State, Nov 5, 2018.
https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/11/287132.htm
Quote:
"MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Foreign Press Center. We are pleased to have with us this morning Secretary Pompeo and Secretary Mnuchin. * * *
"SECRETARY POMPEO: * * * More than 20 importing nations have zeroed out their imports of crude oil already, taking more than one million barrels of crude per day off the market. The regime today, since May, has lost over $2.5 billion in oil revenue. We have decided to issue temporary allotments to a handful of countries responsible to specific circumstances and to ensure a well-supplied oil market. The US will be granting these exemptions to China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey. Each of those countries has already demonstrated significant reductions of the purchase of Iranian crude over the past six months, and indeed two of those eight have already completely ended imports of Iranian crude and will not resume as long as the sanctions regime remains in place. We continue negotiations to get all of the nations to zero.
(3) Department Press Briefing. US Department of State, Nov 7, 2018.
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/11/287201.htm
Quote:
(a) Robert Palladino, Deputy Spokesperson: "Welcome, everyone. Thanks for coming. We’re going to start at the top today with our Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook [of Dept of State]. He has some opening remarks, then he’d be happy to take a few questions from you all.
(b) 9 consecutive paragraphs:
"QUESTION: Okay. And then just one other thing. I wanted to go back to a question I asked you on Friday [Nov 2 I guess; it could not be Nov 9 -- 2 days after this briefing; circumstances of 'asking' unclear] --
"MR HOOK: Yeah.
"QUESTION: -- and this is the – it's going to sound awfully nerdy and technical, but I just want to make sure that – so I asked why Treasury Secretary Mnuchin used the word 'jurisdictions' and not 'countries,' and I said – suggested it might be because Taiwan would be one of the countries getting an exemption and you said no, I get it, nations. And then the Secretary [of state], when he made his announcement on Monday [see (2) above], included Taiwan as among the eight countries --
"MR HOOK: Right.
"QUESTION: -- he specifically said. Does this mean that at least the two of you, Brian Hook and Secretary Pompeo, regard Taiwan as a country? Or is this just kind of the slip of the tongue? Have you heard from the Chinese about it?
"MR HOOK: No. Our policy has not changed. The United States remains committed to the US 'one China' policy, the three joint communiques, and our responsibilities under the Taiwan Relations Act.
"QUESTION: So why call it a country and court the ire of the Chinese?
"MR HOOK: The SRE that we have granted to Taiwan is relevant to Taiwan's economy, and anything else you may have heard, whatever you've interpreted, nothing has changed on our policy.
"QUESTION: Okay, thank you.
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