Iran oil import is India’s decision to make: Jaipal Reddy

“[On the] import of oil from Iran, the government is perfectly free to take a decision. We respect the United Nations’ sanctions against Iran. We do not take notice of sanctions imposed by other countries, other blocks of countries,” he said on Thursday while replying lawmakers’ questions at the Lower House of the Indian parliament.

The Indian oil minister then assured the lawmakers that his country will never “allow its sovereignty to be affected in any manner on the oil import issue,” The Hindu website reported on Friday.

However, Reddy added, the Indian oil companies, keeping various developments in view, take decisions on the oil imports from time to time.

The oil minister emphasized that India will continue importing oil from Iran according to the requirements, noting that a decision on imports is for the country’s oil marketing companies to take.

“These things are not monitored by the government. It is for the companies to take a decision,” he added.

Reddy’s remarks come after a recent visit to New Delhi on May 7 by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during which Clinton urged India to buy less oil from Iran.

Clinton told a Town Hall meeting in the eastern city of Kolkata that there’s an adequate supply in the market for India to find alternative sources of oil.

She noted that India has taken some steps to reduce its imports from Iran “but the US wants to see more.”

India imports around nine percent of its needed crude from Iran, despite Washington’s threats that New Delhi could face US sanctions unless it abides by the US unilateral sanction law against the Islamic Republic.

On May 8, Indian External Affairs Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna dismissed Clinton's call to ban the purchase of Iran's crude oil.

"It (Iran) remains an important source of oil for us although its share of our imports is declining," he added.
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