12 countries including India & China may face US sanctions over Iran oil purchase

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PTI | Mar 27, 2012, 04.56AM IST

WASHINGTON: The US will decide by the end of June whether to impose sanctions on 12 countries, including India and China, with regard to their purchase of crude oil from Iran, an official said on Monday.

It is by the end of June the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton will make a determination on the sanctions, State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland told reporters.

The United States is in conversation with these 12 countries on ways and means to avoid the American sanctions against them, she said.

"We are still working with all of these countries and trying to do what we can to help them to reduce their dependence on Iranian oil.

As you know, we have 180 days under this legislation, which takes us into the end of June," Nuland told reporters.

"We have 180 days in the legislation to make a determination one way or the other. So we're continuing to work with them in the intervening period," Nuland said responding to questions on the time line of the determinations against these 12 countries.

In all 23 countries import oil from Iran, last week, the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, had announced that 11 of these nations - mostly those from Europe and Japan - have been exempted from the Iranian sanctions act because of the significant reduction in oil import from Iran.

The US says it is in talks with the rest of the 12 countries including India, China, Turkey and South Korea in this regard.

12 countries may face US sanctions over oil purchase from Iran - The Times of India
 

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Pakistan among 12 countries that may be hit by US sanctions over Iran oil

By Huma Imtiaz
Published: March 23, 2012

WASHINGTON: Twelve countries including Pakistan may get hit with US sanctions for importing crude oil from Iran.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a list of 11 countries that had been exempted from sanctions, after they had "significantly reduced" their purchases of crude oil from Iran.

While a State Department official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity did not reveal the names of countries that could potentially face sanctions, Reuters reported that China, Iran and Pakistan were on the list.

According to Secretary Clinton's statement, she would certify to Congress that financial institutions based in these eleven countries would not have to face sanctions for a renewable period of 180 days.

According to the National Defense Authorisation Act 2012, the United States may impose sanctions on those countries that are purchasing petroleum products from Iran within 180 days of passing the Act if the President determines that "there is a sufficient supply of petroleum and petroleum products from countries other than Iran to permit a significant reduction in the volume of petroleum and petroleum products purchased from Iran by or through foreign financial institutions."

A State Department official said that approximately 23 countries had been importing Iranian crude oil.

According to the official, on June 28 of this year, if the US President has already determined that if price and supply conditions enable countries to switch from Iran to other supplies, then another set of sanctions comes into effect. The State Department official said, "Those sanctions are against any transactions with the Central Bank of Iran by any financial institution, whether it's private or public, related to the purchase of petroleum or petroleum products for Iran."

In response to a question, the official said, "For those 12 countries, they – it is – they now have an example that they can look at to determine what kind of actions that they might be willing to consider domestically. In terms of sanctionable activity, we can't comment on that because the first step has to be to determine and detect whether there is sanctionable activity, and secondly, to then determine if there is a case to be built up around it."

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at the daily press briefing, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that the US was in the middle of negotiations with individual countries on the subject of decreasing crude oil imports from Iran. The United States has earlier made it clear that it does not believe the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project is a good idea.

In February, during her testimony to a House committee hearing, Secretary Clinton said, "we believe that actually beginning the construction of such a pipeline, either as an Iranian project or as a joint project, would violate our Iran sanctions law. So, you know, we all know what the consequences of that are. And it would be particularly damaging to Pakistan because their economy is already quite shaky. This additional pressure that the United States would be compelled to apply would further undermine their economic status. So we've been, you know, very clear in pointing out the consequences of pursuing such a pipeline."

Speaking to Express News on the Pakistan-Iran pipeline and the sanctions, Shuja Nawaz, the South Asia Director at the Atlantic Centre, said that according to experts they had spoken to, countries could go to the WTO and take their case there. "These sanctions might be cancelled, but countries such as India do not want their relations with the US to worsen, especially when there is a lot of investment and trade potential with the US."

Pakistan among 12 countries that may be hit by US sanctions over Iran oil – The Express Tribune
 

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US mulling sanction on India for buying Iran oil

Posted on Mar 27, 2012 at 07:27am IST

New Delhi: The US is contemplating potential sanctions on 12 countries including India and China for buying crude oil from Iran. A decision is expected by the end of June. The State Department said that Washington is currently in talks with these countries on ways and means to avoid the sanctions.

India plans to continue import of crude oil from Iran without violating any international law, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy earlier said

"We have a systematic plan for receiving oil from Iran," he told reporters on sidelines of the Asia Gas Partnership Summit.


"We are envisaging no cut (in purchase of crude oil from Iran)," he said while asking the United States and other western nations to take into account India's oil needs.

The US had earlier this week exempted Japan and 10 European nations from its financial sanctions because they cut imports from Iran, but left India and China out of the list.

India is Iran's second-biggest oil client after China. It bought about 18 million tons or 12 per cent of its needs from Iran worth about $12 billion.

With additional information from PTI

US mulling sanction on India for buying Iran oil - India News - IBNLive
 

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1 for us, 1 for pakis, 1 for world..:laugh:
 

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