US exempts India, six others from Iran sanctions

Mangalore Today News Network/DHNS

Washington, Jun 12, 2012: The US has exempted India and six other countries from tough new financial sanctions on Iran’s oil trade citing significant reduction in imports of Iranian oil by them, a move downplayed by New Delhi.

"I have made the determination that seven economies — India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan - have all significantly reduced their volume of crude oil purchases from Iran," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement yesterday.

She said exemptions from US sanctions would be granted to these nations. In March, she made exemptions for European Union nations and Japan from tough new financial sanctions that kicks into force later this month.

Clinton issued the statement in this regard hours before External Affairs Minister S M Krishna was to arrive in Washington to co-chair the third India-US Strategic Dialogue along with his American counterpart.

Crude imports from Iran have a steadily declining share in India’s total oil imports – dropping from a level of over 16 per cent in 2008-09 to almost 10 per cent in 2011-12. India, however, downplayed Clinton’s decision of exempting it from economic sanctions for cutting the oil imports from Iran, saying it was a "decision taken by the Obama Administration under its domestic law."

"We have seen the US notification exempting Indian financial institutions from the application of the provisions of US domestic law for energy-related transactions with Iranian Central Bank and other financial institutions designated by US Government.

"This is a decision taken by the US Government under its domestic law," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.

"India and the US have a growing strategic partnership. The India-US Strategic Dialogue on June 13 will once again demonstrate the strength of our relationship and the extraordinary breadth of our bilateral cooperation, based on our shared values and convergent interests," Akbaruddin said.

His comment was in line with what New Delhi has maintained throughout, that India does not believe in unilateral sanctions but it strictly abides and complies by multilateral sanctions like those by the UN Security Council. Sources familiar with the talks between the two countries on the issue acknowledged this was never a major issue between them, and they were expecting that the waiver, even though not sought, would come before the Strategic Dialogue.

Last month, the US sent a team of its energy experts to help India reduce its dependence on Iranian oil. In her statement, Clinton said she will report to the Congress that relevant sanctions will not apply to financial institutions of these countries.

"We have implemented these sanctions to support our efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and to encourage Iran to comply with its international obligations," she said.

"Today’s announcement underscores the success of our sanctions implementation. By reducing Iran’s oil sales, we are sending a decisive message to Iran’s leaders: until they take concrete actions to satisfy the concerns of the international community, they will continue to face increasing isolation and pressure," Clinton said.

The US remains committed to a dual-track policy that offers Iran the chance to engage seriously with the international community to resolve our concerns over its nuclear programme through negotiations, she said. "Iran has the ability to address these concerns by taking concrete steps during the next round of talks in Moscow. I urge its leaders to do so," Clinton said.