Ties with Iran Not to Be Influenced by any Third Country

New Delhi – India said its ties with Iran stand are not influenced by any third country, an assertion which came in the wake of US sanctions on import of Iranian oil, Indian media said on Thursday.

“After six-month-long exemptions from US sanctions to buy oil from Iran ended in May, India said it will deal with the issue based on three factors – the country’s energy security, commercial consideration and economic interests,” wrote Times of India.

“India’s bilateral relations with Iran are not influenced by India’s relations with any third country,” Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said in a written reply.

Iran’s ambassador to India Ali Chegeni had already on Tuesday asserted that his country can ensure “affordability, accessibility and security” of energy to India.

The Iranian envoy also alluded to the possibility of using barter, rupee and European mechanisms for trade in oil with India and other countries to circumvent the US sanctions, wrote the Indian media.

In May 2018, the US brought back sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in 2015.

After Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Iran is the third biggest exporter of oil to India, which has imported 22.6m barrels of oil from Iran since March 2018.

Iran dismisses French official’s claim on JCPOA

In another development in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said in response to his French counterpart that “until the time you remain committed to JCPAO, we will do so, too”.

“We will fulfill our commitments under the JCPOA exactly in the same way you do,” he reiterated.

Responding to Tehran’s announcement that it will boost the enrichment level of its uranium, French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said Iran will gain nothing by departing from the terms of its nuclear agreement.

“Putting it (the deal) into question will only increase the already heightened tensions in the region,” she said.

That’s why France with its European partners have asked strongly that Iran reverse the excess enrichment without delay and refrain from further measures that undermine its nuclear commitments, Von der Muhll said.

IRNA

R.S