India Welcomes Waiver From US Sanctions Against Iranian Oil

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Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan confirmed that India and other oil consuming nations have secured a waiver from sanctions due to be imposed by the United States against Iran starting 5 November.

India has managed to get its point of view across to the global leadership against the geopolitically challenging scenario, said Pradhan on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi on Saturday, 3 November. The interests of the consuming nations can’t be overlooked, he said.

"Nitty gritty of this waiver will be announced eventually," said Pradhan.

The United States on 2 November, said that it will temporarily allow eight importers to keep buying Iranian oil even after it re-imposes sanctions starting Monday to try and force Iran to curb its nuclear programme, Bloomberg had reported.

These countries include India, Japan and South Korea. China, the leading importer of Iranian oil, is still in discussions with the US on terms, the report said. The waivers are only temporary, and the US will expect countries to keep cutting Iranian imports in the months ahead, it added.

We expect to issue some temporary allotments to eight jurisdictions, but only because they have demonstrated significant reductions in their crude oil and cooperation on many other fronts and have made important moves towards getting to zero crude oil importation. 

Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State

“These negotiations are still ongoing. Two of the jurisdictions will completely end imports as part of their agreements. The other six will import at greatly reduced levels," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

In May, US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, terming it as “disastrous".

Under the Obama-era deal, involving five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, Iran agreed to stop its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

After the US withdrawal from the deal, Trump signed fresh sanctions against Iran and warned countries against any cooperation with Tehran over its controversial nuclear weapons programme.

(This story was originally published on BloombergQuint)