Along with mounting pressure on India to cut Iranian oil imports, the United States beefed up oil supplies to New Delhi in hopes of reducing its dependence on fuel imports from Iran and Venezuela in light of renewed US economic sanctions.
According to a Reuters report, the United States will send over 15 million barrels of US crude oil to India in July this year. It is worth noting that the total of US crude imports to India in 2017 stood at 8 million barrels.
For its part, Iran cautioned India that it would stand to lose special “privileges” if it tried to import oil from other countries to compensate for the loss of Iranian oil supplies. Iranian Ambassador to New Delhi Massoud Rezvanian Rahaghi criticized India for not keeping its promises to invest in Iran's strategic seaport of Chabahar and its expansion.
His warning came amid reports that Indian oil refineries were trying to buy crude oil from other countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and the United States, among others, to compensate for the shortage in Iranian oil imports.
“It is unfortunate that Indian investment promises for expansion of Chabahar port and its connectivity projects have not been accomplished so far. It is expected that India takes immediate necessary measures in this regard if its cooperation and engagement in Chabahar port is of strategic nature,” said Rahaghi.
He was speaking at a seminar on 'emerging challenges and opportunities in the global diplomacy and its impact on bilateral ties with India'.
India has been importing Iranian crude oil at a rate of 588,000 bpd since 2018’s onset, making it the second largest importer of Iranian crude oil, just after China.
The US informed India and other countries to reduce Iranian oil imports to zero by November 4 this year in preparation for crippling economic sanctions it will be imposing on Tehran.
Although the US-India bilateral relationship has been growing steadily over the past two years, largely driven by mutual concerns on China's global rise, differences are emerging between Washington and New Delhi over Iran.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, had recently visited New Delhi to convey an official message from Washington regarding India halting oil imports from Iran and revising India-Iran relations.
Haley told NDTV that India needs to “rethink its relationship with Iran” and she had a “constructive conversation” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about cutting Iranian oil imports during their meeting.
The US has also recently canceled high-level strategic talks which were scheduled to be held between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Swaraj had said in May that India would continue to trade with Iran and would only follow UN sanctions, not sanctions imposed by any other country.
