The US is in talks with India over the issue of payment of billions of dollars in oil bills to Iran by New Delhi without being affected by American sanctions, a top State Department official has said.
“We are working with the Indians to resolve the situation. There are, we believe, options available that will help them do that would not trigger sanctions,” the State Department spokesman, Mr Mark Toner, told reporters.
“But beyond that, I can’t really comment,” he said replying to a question about India planning to pay billions of dollars to Iran in unpaid crude oil purchases through Turkey.
“I’m just saying we’re discussing options with India that will help resolve it,” he said.
Iran is India’s second biggest supplier of crude after Saudi Arabia, exporting about 400,000 barrels per day or 12 of the country’s needs in trade worth some $12 billion a year.
In July last year, the US imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Iran aimed at scuttling its oil and gas industries. It placed prohibitive restrictions on banking and foreign exchange transactions with Iranian banks and other financial institutions.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.