U.S. Revokes Iran Oil Waiver After 3 Tanker Attacks, Halting New Sales

Q: What were the 'recent attacks' that derailed a major U.S.-Iran peace initiative and its oil waiver?

The “recent attacks” were a cluster of strikes on commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on July 6 and July 7 that shattered confidence in the U.S.-Iran interim peace arrangement and prompted Washington to revoke the oil waiver. According to the reported details, the first incidents came Monday night, when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was said to have fired missiles at ships transiting the strait, damaging two vessels, including a Saudi-flagged crude tanker. Early Tuesday, another tanker near Limah, Oman — later identified in reports as the Qatari LNG carrier *Al-Rekayyat* — was hit by a projectile and caught fire. A further tanker was also reportedly struck within the same 24-hour period, suffering structural damage. Those attacks were especially damaging because they hit the core promise of the June U.S.-Iran memorandum: safe commercial passage through Hormuz in exchange for limited sanctions relief, including General License X for Iranian oil sales. Once tankers were again being hit in the waterway, the rationale for the waiver collapsed. In short, the attacks were the reported missile, drone, and projectile strikes on multiple commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz over July 6-7, including a Saudi tanker and the Qatari LNG ship *Al-Rekayyat*.

3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Jul 7

General License X1 took effect Tuesday, ending authorization for any new Iranian oil sales and replacing the broader waiver granted two weeks ago under a 60-day U.S.-Iran memorandum.
July 17 is the cutoff for winding down transactions already in process, with proceeds from those sales required to go into blocked, interest-bearing accounts.
Three commercial vessels attacked in the Strait of Hormuz triggered the move, with Washington calling the strikes a ceasefire violation and CENTCOM saying it hit targets inside Iran in retaliation.
Brent rose to $75 a barrel and WTI to $71 as the rollback threatened a key part of the interim deal; Iran called the U.S. move a breach, while Saudi Arabia said Saudi and Qatari tankers were targeted.
The waiver had helped restore Iranian exports and ease a supply crunch after Hormuz disruptions drove oil to $125 in April, but analysts say the waterway's security may be durably altered.