The Trump administration has said that it won't renew waivers that let countries buy Iranian oil, threatening countries that continue to do so with sanctions.
Previously, countries like China and India were given waivers, allowing them to continue importing Iranian oil.
Previously, countries like China and India were given waivers, allowing them to continue importing Iranian oil.
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00:00Oil prices spiked by more than 3% on Monday as reports suggested that Washington was expected
00:07to end its programme of offering waivers to countries importing Iranian oil. Oil prices
00:13hit highs not seen since November 2018. Brent crude futures surged by more than 3% to reach
00:19around $74 a barrel. Saudi Arabia didn't comment on the suggested reports and neither has the
00:24UAE and it's not clear whether Saudi will increase its production to accommodate the
00:29drop-off in Iranian oil in the market. There have been warnings though that Iran will not
00:33be forced to reduce its production to zero as that would be technically impossible for
00:38them to do. Since last year the US has offered waivers to a number of countries importing
00:42Iranian oil including China but reports suggest now that Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of
00:49State, will end that policy from May 2nd, banning all imports of Iranian oil globally
00:55or telling countries that they will face US sanctions if they continue to do so. And
01:00in other news, Samsung has folded its plans in China to launch its Samsung Fold, saying
01:06it has pushed back the events due to venue issues. However, the news comes on the back
01:11of reports last week that Samsung was having issues with its new folding phone, an extremely
01:17premium device looking to cost upwards of $2,000. The phone, which will fold in the
01:21middle, has reportedly been cracking and having other screen-related issues since
01:27it was tested this month. Despite this, Samsung says that its US launch is still on track
01:32for April 26th. After a number of screen issues happened during press reviews of the device,
01:38Samsung said it would thoroughly investigate what glitches were taking place and resolve
01:43them before a global rollout later this year. And lastly, on Monday, Japanese prosecutors
01:48said that they had filed fresh charges against ex-Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, expanding
01:54the scope of the financial fraud allegations that are pending against the former boss of
01:59the carmaker. The charges filed on Monday are related to a number of payments made by
02:04the carmaker that allegedly went to a private investment vehicle controlled by Ghosn. After
02:09the indictment, Ghosn's lawyers filed a request for bail at the Tokyo District Court. A decision
02:15has not yet been made on that bail request.