US Announces Waiver to India if Iranian Oil Import is Replaced by American Product

India may be given a waiver if oil is imported from United States instead of Iran, said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is in Delhi with Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on a 2+2 dialogue with Indian counterparts.

Washington is seeking India should unwind its trade deals with Iran as sanctions have been imposed on several products and more sanctions to come in November this year. The same is being pushed to other countries to halt oil imports.

President Donald Trump withdrew the 2015 deal this year in May and reimposed the sanctions. On August 6 the fresh sanctions came into effect and it was mostly on the petroleum products. Trump said countries dealing with Iran would not do any deal with the US.

In his India tour Pompeo added waivers will be considered where they find appropriate but expect oil imports from Iran wills go to zero from every country.

India is Iran’s top oil client after China and it is the third-largest importer in the world. It would be not easy to halt imports completely from the country.

He added that it would be great if the Iranian oil is replaced with that of American oil.

Meanwhile, Iran has been luring India with extended credit terms and to some extent offering free shipping.

Pompeo further said, “But our mission set is to ensure that Iran doesn’t engage in malign behaviour with wealth that comes from countries around the world. Thus the purpose of the sanctions.”