India has stopped buying Iran Oil, confirms envoy to US

TIL Desk/Business/Washington/ India has stopped importing oil from Iran after American waivers granted to eight buyers expired early this month, New Delhi’s envoy here has said, becoming the latest country to comply with the US sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

The US reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Teheran and six world powers. To reduce Iran’s crude oil export to zero, the US ended on May 2 waivers that had allowed the top buyers of Iranian oil, including India, to continue their imports for six months.

Indian Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has stopped importing oil from Iran after the United States refused to extend exemption from sanctions earlier this month. As of late April, India had dropped its dependency on Iranian oil from about 2.5 billion tonnes a month to 1 million tonnes a month, he said.