India is said to be in touch with the US to seek further extension of the waiver on oil imports from Iran, pointing out that it has been gradually reducing its energy purchases from the Islamic country.
(Representational Image: iStock)
India on Monday said it was studying the implications of the US decision not to allow it further exemptions from American sanctions if it continued to import oil from Iran after the waiver ends in early May.
”We are studying the implications of the decision (announced by the US administration) and will make a statement at an appropriate time,” sources said soon after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement in Washington that no country was exempt from Iran-related sanctions after 2 May.
The US had granted exemptions to India, China, Japan, South Korea and Turkey “to ensure a well-supplied oil market” in November last year for six months after it re-imposed sanctions on the Persian nation in view of its controversial nuclear programme.
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The US, which has engaged in maximum pressure campaign against Tehran since Donald Trump came to power, had been giving the countries time to wean themselves off Iranian oil, but has decided that waivers will no longer be issued.
“The goal remains simply: To deprive the outlaw regime of the funds that it has used to destabilise the Middle East for decades and incentivise Iran to behave like a normal country,” Pompeo was quoted as saying.
India is said to be in touch with the US to seek further extension of the waiver on oil imports from Iran, pointing out that it has been gradually reducing its energy purchases from the Islamic country.
Sources said India would do everything that needed to be done to secure its energy needs.
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