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Iran wants to sell oil to India and is ready to deliver it, Iran’s ambassador to India Iraj Elahi said in an interview.
“We always express our readiness to increase our economic ties with India. It’s up to India, we are ready to deliver oil,” Elahi said, adding that US sanctions have been an obstacle.
“Sanctions are an obstacle. India and Iran should find a way to solve this problem according to their national interests and not according to illegal US sanctions. We want to sell oil to India and buy what we need from India,” the Iranian Ambassador told ANI.
India abided by US sanctions when former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA and gradually imposed a full ban on purchase of Iranian oil by third countries. But China continued buying small volumes until November 2020 when it began noticeably increasing imports of illicit Iranian shipments.
However, according to an analysis published by Reuters in July, China’s growing imports of Iranian oil has made India not follow Western sanctions on Russian crude as it did regarding the Islamic Republic.
Indian officials said, “New Delhi wants to avoid repeating what it sees as the mistakes of the past: abiding by sanctions on Iran and winding down oil imports, only to see its main regional rival China continue unpunished and benefit economically.”