New Delhi: The countries buying oil from Iran will be facing strict US sanctions from Sunday. However, the United States has granted waivers to India while making this announcement. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that eight countries including India had been allowed to purchase oil from Iran. Indian Minister for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan has welcomed this announcement. Pradhan claimed that this is a reward for the stance taken by the Indian Prime Minister in the matter.
The United States has imposed harsh sanctions against Iran from 4th of November, and has declared that these sanctions will also affect the countries buying oil from Iran. The United States had demanded that India stopped buying oil from Iran and India had refused to comply and declared that it would continue to buy oil from Iran. In this scenario, the question that raised was – Will the sanctions affect India? But as expected the United States avoided targeting the India-Iran oil trade.
The US Secretary of State announced that temporary concession had been given to eight countries to buy oil from Iran. These countries include China, Japan, and South Korea too. While speaking about this Indian Minister for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan claimed this as a major success for the Indian efforts. The Indian Prime Minister had appealed for consideration of the oil-related requirements and the geopolitical situations of the countries buying oil from Iran. The Indian campaign was successful, said Pradhan.
The issue of Indian oil purchase from Iran had been raised in the Two Plus Two meeting between India and the United States. The talks at that time were that India had convinced the United States that it would not be possible for India to stop buying oil from Iran. India is the second largest customer of oil for Iran, only after China. India has been buying 450,000 barrels of Crude oil per day from Iran. But India has reduced this purchase to 300,000 barrels per day. Some people have claimed that India has partially acceded to the United States demand by effecting this cut in the oil purchased from Iran.
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