Hillary Clinton Wants India To Stop Iran Oil Imports, Could Face Sanctions
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is warning India lawmakers to back off Iranian oil or face possible sanctions from the United States.
Clinton arrived in the eastern city of Kolkata on Sunday to speak with officials about Iranian oil important, the countries relationship with Pakistan and the future of Afghanistan.
If India continues to purchase oil from Iran it could face US Sanctions on trade by the end of June. In the meantime the Obama administration wants the country to make “significant” cuts to its oil imports in the hopes of further squeezing the Iranian petroleum industry which accounts for nearly 80% of the countries GDP.
India and its growing population is no stranger to power consumption, importing nearly 70% of its oil, 9% of which comes from Iran. In fact Iran is the second largest importer to India behind only Saudi Arabia.
The move to push back Iranian oil imports into the country isn’t something new for the region, officials in Indian have been pushing its oil companies to find other sources of oil. An Indian official speaking about the possibility of US sanctions said:
“We believe we have a strong case, which we will put forth.”
In the meantime the Clinton administration has arrived in the country at the same time as a group of Tehran businessmen who are looking for Indian goods and services to purchase with the billions of dollars worth of rupee payments Iran has received from India’s oil purchases.
While more than a dozen nations have cut back Iran oil imports enough to avoid US sanctions some countries continue to purchase from the country and have sanctions in place, those countries include China, South Korea, Turkey and South Africa.
