The United States will insist India and all other buyers of Iranian crude must cut imports to zero by November 4 when sanctions go into effect against Iran, a senior state department official said and warned there will be no waivers, unlike the previous round.
The official said the message has been delivered already to allies in Europe and Asia and an interagency team of state and treasury department officials will be visiting India, China and other countries in the coming weeks.
The official, who spoke to reporters on background, said India and China will be subject to the same sanctions that everybody elses is and yes, we will certainly be requesting that their oil imports go to zero, without question.
I would be hesitant to say zero waivers ever. I think the predisposition would be no, were not granting waivers, the officials said to a question about granting waivers.
Importers of Iranian crude face the risk of being hit by secondary sanctions by the United States that could take various forms, but the most significant of which would be being blocked from the American financial system, which no country, developed or underdeveloped, can afford.
India is the second largest buyer of Iranian crude after China, and Iran is the third largest supplier to India after Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and New Delhi has watched with familiar misgivings the Trump administrations decision to tear up the Iran deal past May and announcement that sanctions will be back in force in two tranches by November 4.
