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US exempts India from Iran oil sanctions
Tuesday June 12, 2012 05:18:50 PM,
IANS
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Washington: A day
before India-US strategic dialogue here, the US has exempted India
and six other nations from its tough Iran oil sanctions for
significantly reducing their oil purchases from Tehran.
By exempting India from the sanctions, the US has taken a
contentious issue off the table from their strategic dialogue,
co-chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, starting here Wednesday.
India's external affairs ministry said it had 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," ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said in response to a
query on the US announcement.
"India and the United States 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," he added.
Besides India, the US has added Malaysia, South Korea, South
Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan to the exemption list,
leaving China and Singapore, the top two buyers of Iranian crude,
still exposed to possible penalties by the end of this month.
They "have all significantly reduced their volume of crude oil
purchases from Iran", US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said
Monday of the countries added to the exemption list.
"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.
"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.
"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 with the P5+1," 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.
Clinton announced in March that an "initial group" of countries -
Japan and 10 European Union nations - had "significantly reduced"
their Iranian oil purchases and thus qualified for an exemption
under a sanctions law for a renewable period of 180 days.
India and South Korea were the third and fourth-largest buyers of
Iranian oil in the first half of last year, according to the US
Department of Energy.
Under the US law enacted Dec 31, nations have until June 30 to
demonstrate they have "significantly reduced" the volume of their
Iranian crude purchases - or their banks that settle oil trades
with Iran may be cut off from the US financial system.
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