India Exempted from Iran Oil Sanctions Following Compliance

India will enter the 3rd round of its strategic dialogue with the United States this week with the shadow of Iran-related sanctions off its back. The Obama administration on Monday announced exempting India, South Korea, and five other countries from Iran oil sanctions.

Word of the sanctions relief came even as human resources development minister Kapil Sibal and his team is scheduled to begin a high education dialogue with secretary of state Hillary Clinton and her team on Tuesday, followed by the formal strategic dialogue on Wednesday. The possibility of sanctions, although remote, hung over the engagements.

Clinton herself announced the exemptions even as Indian cabinet ministers and high officials trooped into Washington. "Today 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. They join the 11 countries for which I made this determination in March. As a result, I will report to the Congress that sanctions pursuant to Section 1245(d)(1) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 will not apply to their financial institutions for a potentially renewable period of 180 days," she said in a statement.

The Obama administration has apparently been persuaded by New Delhi's efforts to scale down oil imports from Iran. Indian officials say Iran has been relegated as the third largest supplier of crude oil, down to only about 10 percent of the total imports from over 12 percent previously. It is expected come further down to 7-8 per cent in 2012-13.

The seven new exemptions, including for India, follows a similar action in March when the US announced that 11 countries, including 10 European states and Japan, would be excepted from financial sanctions due to their crude imports cut from Iran. More pertinently, it removes the bogey of sanctions over US-India engagement and gives one less stick to the anti-India constituency in Washington -- including a strong pro-Israel lobby unable or unwilling to comprehend India's ties with Iran and always on the lookout for alleged Indian infractions vis-a-vis Teheran -- to beat New Delhi with.

US Exempts India, Six others from Iran Sanctions

The US on Tuesday said it would exempt India and six other countries from financial sanctions because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian oil.

Clinton said exemptions would also be granted to South Korea, Turkey, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Taiwan, which join Japan and a number of European countries already on the list of those exempted from Iran sanctions act 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.

In her statement, Clinton said as a result of her determination, she will report to the Congress that relevant sanctions will not apply to financial institutions of these countries.

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.