The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has said that the Iran crude oil payments issue has been sorted out and that India had already paid the first instalment.

He, however, declined to comment on the details of new payment mechanism, stating that it was “confidential”.

Iran had “never threatened” to stop crude oil supplies to India, Mr Mukherjee told reporters at Parliament House here on Friday. Currently, India is Iran's second biggest customer after China.

The payment problem for Iran crude oil supplies was triggered in December last year after the Reserve Bank of India scrapped a long-standing regional clearing house mechanism.

Iran had in the last 10 days received €1 billion (about $ 1.4 billion) from India, an Iranian official had said on Monday.

>krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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