New Delhi, July 19 -- WASHINGTON - In the sixteen days between June 22 and July 7, some twenty Iranian tankers moved approximately 70 million barrels of crude oil to buyers in Asia while a United States Treasury general license explicitly authorized the transactions, generating between $5 billion and $6 billion in export revenue before Washington terminated the waiver without public explanation six weeks ahead of its scheduled expiration, data from United Against Nuclear Iran cited by The Wall Street Journal shows.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued the authorization on June 22 as part of ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The license permitted the production, supply, and sale of Iranian petroleum products. It...