WASHINGTON Within days the United States will announce a decision not to impose sanctions against a consortium led by French group TOTAL for its investment in Iran, diplomatic sources said here Thursday. The sources said Washington would rule that while the deal falls under a U.S. law that calls for sanctions against companies with dealings in Iran, the measure would be waived in the interest of national security.

The 1996 Iran-Libya sanctions act seeks to penalize companies that invest more than $40 million in the energy sectors of Iran and Libya. The consortium, which includes Russia's Gazprom and Malaysia's Petronas, signed a two-billion-dollar agreement in September 1997 to develop Iran's South Pars gas field. Martin Indyk, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said the U.S. decision would be announced within days.

(AFP)