NEW DELHI: India will ask for waivers on new US sanctions on Iran as it seeks to minimise the impact of curbs on oil imports from Tehran, the Times of India reported on Saturday, without identifying a source for its report. India’s National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon met the US ambassador in New Delhi, Peter Burleigh, on Friday, the newspaper reported. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai is expected to discuss the matter further when he travels to Washington. US President Barack Obama last month signed into law new sanctions against financial institutions dealing with Iran’s central bank, the main conduit for the country’s oil revenues. The latest sanctions – part of US effort to reduce Iran’s oil revenue and force the country to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons programme – have pushed up global crude prices. India is the second highest consumer of Iranian oil after China.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2012.
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@Observer, there is a lot of poverty in Saudi Arabia. Hard to believe but true. And the millionaires you refer to are Saudi princes (sons/grandsons/great grandsons... of Saud) who use the country's wealth as if it were their personal bank account. In other words, there is no distinction between personal and national wealth for Saudi Princes. That's why you see them with so much money and the best casinos in Europe, throwing it away on gambling, booze and women.
@Noise: If Saudis "burn" away all their oil, so what? Each and every Saudi is a multimillionaire and have homes in western countries. Saudi population is relatively small. They can afford to buy their way out of Saudi arabia.
Without oil, there is nothing in Saudi arabia, not even a drop of water and a few camels.
@Noise: All Iran has to do is clean up her nuclear program. Embargo only increases the oil price, and gulf countries who play by the international rules will only become richer, not poorer.
Nuclear bomb is a twentieth century mind set.
Its like the US expects the Saudis to burn away all their oil in trying to capture Iran's customers. Oil is a finite resource and the Saudis and their American backers would do well to remember that. The US is not only trying to impoverish Iran it is also playing with the future of the Gulf Arabs in forcing them to sell their oil, their trump card, for cheap.