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| Iran get around U.S.-led moves to block Indian oil payment |
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 Iran is now receiving the payments for its oil exports to India through a third party bank to get around U.S.-led moves to isolate the Islamic Republic, industry sources said. New Delhi owes Tehran around $5 billion on account of oil supplied by the latter and both countries have struggled to find ways to settle the payments after the Reserve Bank of India halted a clearing mechanism under U.S. pressure, Indiatimes reported. Meanwhile, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Seyed Amir Mansour Borghei said on Monday the payment row with India over crude supplies had been resolved, Business-standard reported. “This was a small issue and it has been resolved amicably. There is nothing more to say,” the official said. Borghei was reacting to news reports of India and Iran arriving at an agreement over the payment in euros through Turkey's Halkbank for clearing over $5 billion of debt. Both countries had been looking at ways for New Delhi to pay for 400,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude since the Reserve Bank of India stopped a clearing mechanism last December. Borghei said Iran could be open to multiple currency baskets for its bilateral trade with friendly countries to reduce the pressure of the dollar-dominated market forces. “It is a matter of careful planning, but we can explore possibilities where bilateral trade between India and Iran can be done directly in Indian rupees and Iran rials.” He said the global economy will be driven by Asian powers, including India, Iran, Russia and China. “Iran, with its strategic geographical position, can play a crucial role for this and we would welcome any move for increased and close regional cooperation with India, Russia and China.” Making a fervent appeal for establishing a new world economic order, Borghei said the approach of the western economic model, propounded by international organizations like the IMF and World Bank had failed. “In 1929, the crisis engulfed the real economy and permeated the social life… the situation came to a point where there was no solution but war. On Monday, the situation is fast becoming the one that the world faced in 1929.” Iran is receiving long overdue payments for its oil exports to India as two major buyers have started using a Turkish bank to get around U.S.-led moves, Reuters reported. Iran's biggest Indian customer, state-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), has made three payments totalling at least 60 million euros through Turkey's state-controlled Halkbank with a view to using that channel to overcome the blockage, industry sources told Reuters. India has been largely unable to pay Iran for oil since December when the Reserve Bank of India halted a clearing mechanism under U.S. pressure to crack down on doing business with Iran. Some payments were made through Germany-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH or European-Iranian Trade Bank), a conduit that was also halted under U.S. pressure. "Different options are being worked out to make payment for oil imports from Iran and oil companies are making payments for bona fide oil imports within the framework of existing international regulations," said Alpana Killawala, chief general manager at Reserve Bank of India. (Source:Agencies)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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| Last Updated on 02 August 2011 14:21 |