UCO - A Prisoner Exchange With Iran Could Impact The Oil Sector: Here's How | Benzinga
The U.S. and Iran completed a prisoner swap that could anticipate improving relations between the two nations.
The deal, which freed 10 people — five Iranians and five Americans — also unlocked $6 billion in oil funds that the U.S. was holding from the Middle-Eastern nation.
Positive U.S.-Iran relations emerged during the post-war years but quickly deteriorated after the Iranian Revolution, which overthrew the last royal dynasty in 1979 and established the current Islamic Republic of Iran. By 1980 the two countries had ceased formal diplomatic relations.
The decades that followed were conflict-filled as the U.S. launched a long campaign of military intervention in the Middle East. The last decade was marked by U.S.-led pressure to limit Iran's nuclear weapons program through economic embargoes and sanctions which pressed heavily on the oil industry.
Iran's nuclear program: Iran is currently not known to possess any nuclear weapons but is publicly aiming for their development. The construction of uranium enrichment facilities beginning in the early 2000s has been a consistent cause of concern for the West.
Since 2015, the U.S. has been involved in efforts to oversee the dismantlement of Iran's nuclear weapons program through an initiative led by President Barack Obama, which leveraged lifting some sanctions in exchange for the deal. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. from the agreement in 2018 leading Iran to boost its uranium enrichment program and launching the two countries into new military tensions.
Iran's involvement in the Ukraine war has also raised concern for NATO powers as the country ...