India to persist with crude import from Iran

New Delhi: Even as China cuts down drastically its oil imports from Iran, which is soon likely to run into fresh sanctions from the US and the EU, India on Tuesday declared that it will continue to import crude oil from the country. Brushing aside US sanctions that prevent financial institutions from doing business with Tehran and its central bank, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai stated that India will only accept sanctions imposed by the UN.
"We have accepted sanctions which are made by the United Nations. Other sanctions do not apply to individual countries. We can't accept that," said Mathai, adding that India had not sought any waiver from US sanctions.
This was even as EU High Representative for foreign affairs Catherine Ashton told TOI on Tuesday that the sanctions against Iran by the EU, which is on the verge of banning oil imports from Iran, are designed to make Iran fulfill its obligations as a signatory to the NPT and that nations like India had the responsibility to convey the correct message to Tehran. "It's not impossible for countries like India to have a long-term and strategic relationship with Iran and yet convey to Iran that it is not fulfilling its international commitments in pursuing a nuclear weapon programme. The sanctions are designed to prevent Iran's nuclear programme and nothing beyond that," Ashton, who had raised the issue with foreign minister S M Krishna on Monday, told TOI.
Mathai said that an Indian ministerial delegation is visiting Iran to work out a mechanism for uninterrupted purchase of oil from Iran and to come up with a financing arrangement. "We continue to buy oil from Iran and a number of EU countries too continue to do the same," added Mathai.
While it has been speculated that a cut in oil imports from Iran by a country will ensure a waiver from US sanctions, Mathai said India had not asked for any such waiver. While China has reduced its import from Iran and is said to be concentrating on other sources, including Saudi Arabia, several other countries like Japan, South Korea and Turkey have suggested that they could seek waivers from US sanctions.
Indian officials have maintained that they will not stop the supply from Iran and that New Delhi is considering other options to route payments to Tehran, including through Russian banks, if Turkey were to stop the current mode of payment.