Iran sanctions: US agrees to give oil waivers to India, 7 other countries; Here's what it means

India has become one of the eight countries – including Japan and South Korea – to get a waiver on the sanctions re-imposed on Iran by US President Donald Trump-led administration.

After getting the exemption, India would be asked to bring down oil imports from Iran to zero within six months. (Image: AFP)

New Delhi: India has become one of the eight countries – including Japan and South Korea – to get a waiver on the sanctions re-imposed on Iran by US President Donald Trump-led administration. It means that India can temporarily import oil from Iran post sanction. According to a report by news agency Bloomberg, the goal of Trump administration remains to choke off revenue from Iran’s economy, waivers are being given in exchange for continued import cuts so as not to drive up oil prices. US sanctions on Iran will start from November 5. “We expect to issue some temporary allotments to eight jurisdictions, but only because they have demonstrated significant reductions in their crude oil and cooperation on many other fronts and have made important moves towards getting to zero crude oil importation. These negotiations are still ongoing. Two of the jurisdictions will completely end imports as part of their agreements. The other six will import at greatly reduced levels,” US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo told reporters in Washington DC, during a conference call with Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin. However, Pompeo also asserted the fact that countries like India, after getting the exemption, would be asked to bring down oil imports from Iran to zero within six months. China – who is one of the biggest importers of Iranian oil – is still in discussion with the US on term, but is one of the eight countries to get the exemption. The report also stated that Turkey is among the list of eight countries. The US announced its intention to re-impose sanctions on Iran from November 5 with Trump tweeting a picture of himself in a Game of Thrones-style poster which read, ‘sanctions are coming’. “President @realDonaldTrump is reimposing all sanctions lifted under the unacceptable Iran deal. The U.S. is reimposing the toughest sanctions ever on Iran, targeting many of the corrupt regime’s critical sectors,” the White House had tweeted. In September, during the Indo-US 2+2 dialogue, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had a detailed discussion with Pompeo on the issue of oil imports from Iran.