India increases Iran oil imports; Becomes Irans largest oil importer!

[StormShadow]

Iran's crude oil exports to India have increased 37.5% in January.

India has increased oil imports from Iran to become the Islamic Republic's largest customer last month, ignoring recent sanctions imposed by US and EU on importing Iran’s oil.


According to The Wall Street Journal Iranian crude exports to India rose to 550,000 barrels a day in January, up 37.5 percent from December 2011.

The development, the report said, has partly offset a 50 percent cut in crude exports to China as a result of pricing dispute. China now imports around 250,000 barrels a day from Iran.

The news comes despite the West’s rising pressure on Iran to halt its peaceful nuclear program.

On the New Year’s Eve, the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran aimed at preventing other countries from importing Iran’s oil and doing transactions with its central bank.

European Union foreign ministers also approved sanctions against Iran’s oil and financial sectors on January 23, including a ban on Iranian oil imports, a freeze on the assets of the country’s Central Bank within EU states, and a ban on selling diamonds, gold, and other precious metals to Tehran.

Although financial sanctions have caused problems with regard to payment for Iran’s oil by other countries, they have apparently not been able to deter India.

Iran's Ambassador to India Seyyed Mehdi Nabizadeh said last Tuesday that India had agreed to pay for some purchases of Iranian oil in Indian rupees, a route that would avoid the risk of an interruption in banking transfers.

Meanwhile, despite a pledge to find alternative supply sources for Iran’s oil, South Africa has also increased its Iranian oil imports to 100,000 barrels a day, The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed informed source as saying.

The US, Israel and their European allies accuse Iran of diversion in its peaceful nuclear program and have used this as an excuse to pass four rounds of international sanctions against the country at the UN Security Council.

Refuting the claims, Tehran insists that as a member to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it is fully entitled to peaceful applications of the nuclear energy.

India increases Iran oil imports - Tehran Times

 

[PERSIAN GOD KING]

Hopefully Iranian leaders will thank India for this, India is showing the yanks a middle finger and they dont have to do this.
thanks to our Indian friends.

 

[Wet Shirt Contest]

Good News

 

[Sugarcane]

^^^^^
India is doing it because she is getting cheap oil on longer credit terms, plus they will pay you considerable amount in Rs. which will force you buy their products. It's nothing to do with showing middle finger.

 

[StormShadow]

Hopefully Iranian leaders will thank India for this, India is showing the yanks a middle finger and they dont have to do this.
thanks to our Indian friends.

And the US is already feeling the heat.

WASHINGTON: India's continued engagement with Iran in the face of American pathology against Tehran and New Delhi's insistence on putting safety before commerce in nuclear energy trade surfaced as wrinkles in an otherwise smooth and upbeat assessment of US-India ties during the confirmation hearing of Nancy Powell, the US ambassador-nominee to India.

US Senators gushed about the growing closeness between Washington and New Delhi, a proposition supported by Ms Powell, but on a day India's foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other state department mandarins to present New Delhi's perspective on these and other issues, lawmakers did not hold back from expressing annoyance at the Indian stance on Iran and stalled nuclear trade with US
The sharpest censure came from New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez who virtually accused India, which is one of Iran's largest energy buyers, of ''rebuking (US-led) sanctions'' and ''looking for workarounds, including considering payments in gold and transactions that detour around'' Washington's move forestall Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

''For our sanctions to be effective, it's really crucial that all nations, particularly democratic nations like India, work together to confront Iran,'' Menendez said, urging Powell to convey to New Delhi that this is a ''policy priority'' and the US will not hesitate to take appropriate action under its law to enforce the sanctions, a step that will hurt Indian companies if they continue trading with Iran.

Powell was measured in her response, noting that Iran and India have a long tradition of trade across energy and other fields, but also noting twice that foreign secretary Mathai has indicated India's effort to diversify its energy sources and reduce Iranian oil imports to less than 10 per cent. She also pointed out that India had supported the US at the IAEA four times and it shared with Washington a desire to see a nonnuclear state in Iran.

''I think these are positive developments,'' she said, adding that ''our own efforts to support India in looking at other sources of energy will be a contributor to this.'' She however promised to spend time working with New Delhi on this subject.

Similarly, Powell also heard senatorial annoyance at India's nuclear liability bill, which veteran senator and disarmament pundit Richard Lugar said could frustrate the US nuclear industry's efforts to play a role in India's expanding nuclear power sector. Lugar said the bill's terms are ''fundamentally inconsistent'' with the liability regime that the international community is seeking to achieve and wanted the prospective envoy to take this up.

Outside these two niggles, there was the usual buoyant assessment of US-India ties, with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry reiterating the broad Washington consensus that ''America is an interested stakeholder in India's increasing ascent to greater economic and greater global power and participation.'' Powell, a veteran foreign service nominee who Kerry described as ''one of our best'' agreed, describing India as ''leading security partner of the US in the 21st century.''

Describing India as a ''net security provider in the Indo-Pacific region,'' Powell, considering a shoo-in for the New Delhi post with confirmation a mere formality, said the ''number and kinds of interactions between our two countries at all levels is staggering in its breadth and depth.''

 

[Wet Shirt Contest]

@loveicon Business as Usual

 

[Lambda]

Chinese Supported the Syrians but Ditched the Iranians!

 

[JAT BALWAN]

Now US will be like...

Good going India....

 

[illusion8]

^^^^^
India is doing it because she is getting cheap oil on longer credit terms, plus they will pay you considerable amount in Rs. which will force you buy their products. It's nothing to do with showing middle finger.

LOL India's foreign policy is more complex than Pakistan's, so it will be difficult for you to understand.

 

[Sugarcane]

Chinese Supported the Syrians but Ditched the Iranians!

Maybe they didn't get deal like Indians from Iran

 

[StormShadow]

^^^^^
India is doing it because she is getting cheap oil on longer credit terms, plus they will pay you considerable amount in Rs. which will force you buy their products. It's nothing to do with showing middle finger.

Getting cheap oil...yes but at the cost of ??? Just for the sake of "cheap" [not free] oil, we are risking a sharp reaction from the US and EU. Not to mention Israel,one of our closest allies.

 

[mautkimaut]

Hopefully Iranian leaders will thank India for this, India is showing the yanks a middle finger and they dont have to do this.
thanks to our Indian friends.

India and Iran have cultural ties from centuries. Hopefully Iranians understand this that a friend in need is a friend indeed

 

[sss112]

India and Iran have good relations and proved that they are worthy a friend to have.
We'll always show up when a friend needs help.

Hoping for Indian Iran relations to go even further and stronger.

 

[Sugarcane]

LOL India's foreign policy is more complex than Pakistan's, so it will be difficult for you to understand.

LOL... It's simple to understand, Banya looks for his profit. Tell me if Iran don't give you oil at cheap rates, longer credits and payments in Rs, will India continue it's stance

 

[StingRoy]

India has already clarified its position with regards to the Iranian sanctions. It will only respect sanctions if ratified by the UN and not any individual nations.