Washington: India and other major Iranian oil importing countries have got six months relief from reducing their import after the Islamic Republic agreed to curb parts of its disputed nuclear programme under a landmark deal.
“What the Joint Plan of Action provides is that we'll pause efforts to further reduce Iran's crude oil sales to Iran's existing customers so that, what had been the requirement to continue to significantly reduce, will be essentially held in abeyance during the six-month period of this agreement,” a senior administration official said today.
India had slashed import of crude oil from Iran by over 26.5 per cent in the financial year ended March 31, 2013 as US and European sanctions made it difficult to ship oil from the Persian Gulf nation.
“They cannot increase their amount of oil that they're importing, but they don't need to reduce,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
His comments came hours after Iran and six world powers reached an agreement under which Tehran agreed to curb parts of its nuclear programme for six months in exchange for modest relief from international sanctions. Iran would start scaling back its nuclear programme from January 20.
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