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No exemption from US sanctions, India stopped buying oil from Iran from May 2

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The US has ruled out giving any exemption from its punitive sanctions to countries, including India, for buying oil from Iran, said media reports quoting news agency PTI.

The US on Tuesday reiterated its position at a news conference in Washington after media reports from New Delhi, quoting unnamed government officials, said that India was looking at ways to resume oil imports from Iran despite the US sanctions.

US President Donald Trump had in April refused to give waivers to countries like India from buying oil from Iran, in an attempt to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero.

US said its maximum pressure campaign was working and the Donald Trump administration remains “unwavering” in its tough policy on Tehran.

Last week, India’s Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India had stopped buying oil from Iran after 2 May when the US ended its waivers that allowed the top buyers of Iranian oil, including India, to continue their imports for six months.

India has stopped importing oil from both Iran and Venezuela, he said.

As of late April, India dropped its dependency on Iranian oil from about 2.5 million tonnes a month to 1 million tonnes a month, Shringla said last week.

“We do understand that this has been a priority for the US administration, although it comes at a cost to us because we really need to find alternative sources of energy,” Shringla said.

Noting that the US did talk of trying to maintain price stability, Shringla said in the short term, there has been reduced price stability.

Iran earlier used to supply 10 percent of India’s oil needs. At the time purchase was halted, India was buying over 3 lakh barrels of oil from Iran every day.

 

Chabahar Port: While Indian oil imports from Iran have come down to zero, Tehran expects New Delhi to at least speed up work on developing the Chabahar Port, which is located in the country’s Sistan-Balochistan province, said an earlier report in ThePrint.

A flagship joint endeavour, Chabahar is believed to hold immense strategic significance for India as it will allow the country direct access to Afghanistan and central Asia, for which New Delhi has to currently depend on Pakistan.

“Our ties with India go beyond oil. We have economic ties across many sectors. The impact of US sanctions will not be felt on the Chabahar project,” Iran’s Ambassador to India Ali Chegeni told ThePrint, adding, “But it needs to speed up work there.”

The first phase of the port was inaugurated in December 2017. Apart from developing the port, the Chabahar project also entails the creation of a rail link from Chabahar to Zahedan within Iran. While a feasibility study on the rail link was completed two years back by the Indian public sector company IRCON, work is yet to begin, the envoy said.

 

The US state department said there was no change in its policy on Iranian sanctions.

“The secretary (of state) has been very clear since 22 April that we are going to zero,” Spokesperson of the State Department Morgan Ortagus told reporters during an off-camera news conference.

“We have stated that there are no new exemptions after 2 May as it relates to importing Iranian oil. The US position there remains quite firm,” she said in response to a question.

The US reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and six other world powers.

Ortagus said the American sanctions on Iran were working. “Our sanctions are working, and I think that you’ve heard secretary Brian Hook and myself go through a litany of ways in which we know that the sanctions are quite effective for Iran,” she said.

Noting that the economic sanctions and the maximum pressure campaign will remain in place, the spokesperson said that the both Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have said they will be willing to talk to the Iranian regime.

“But until then, we remain unwavering and unflinching in our sanctions campaign and our maximum pressure campaign. That’s been our policy; that remains our policy. And it’s not just about a nuclear weapon. It’s about Iran’s support of terrorism in the region, their malign behaviour throughout the region,” she said.

The US has been pretty overt in its signalling to the Iranians, and its willingness to talk, she said.

“The maximum pressure campaign, economic sanctions remain on the table. If they would like to take a serious look at the 12 points that the Secretary laid out over a year ago, we’ll be ready to talk about that. The President and the Secretary mean that sincerely,” Ortagus said.

The United States has been talking to its European partners as well over the issue, she said.

“One of the main things that we will continue to talk to our European partners and allies is the imminent threat from Iran that is faced in the region,” she said.

After coming to power, Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018 and has imposed stringent sanctions against what he describes as the “authoritarian” Iranian regime.

The US is seeking to ramp up pressure on Iran to counter what the White House perceives to be a potential threat.

In April, the US designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organisation, the first time the designation has been applied to a government entity.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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US reiterates its call for fair, transparent, legal process for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, speaks on Congress frozen accounts

The US spokesperson said that they are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections.

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A day after India summoned an US diplomat over their remarks on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, the US reiterated its call for fair, transparent, timely legal processes on Wednesday.

Responding to questions on India summoning Gloria Berbena, the US Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that they will continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Notably, the meeting at the foreign ministry’s South Block office lasted nearly 40 minutes yesterday with India objecting strongly to the US remarks on the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal.

Matthew Miller also responded to a question on the Congress party’s frozen bank accounts. The US spokesperson said that they are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. He added that the US encourages fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of the issues.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested last week by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to the Delhi liquor policy scam. Earlier, AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Sanjay Singh were arrested in the same case.

The External Affairs Ministry had earlier stated that states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others, and this responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies, adding that it could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents.

The Ministry further emphasized that India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. It mentioned that casting aspersions on India’s legal procedure is unwarranted.

The United State’s remarks followed days after Germany’s Foreign Office stressed that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is entitled to a fair and impartial trial. The Indian government labelled their remark as blatant interference in internal matters.

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5 Chinese nationals killed in suicide bomb attack in Pakistan

This is the third major attack on Chinese interests in Pakistan within a week.

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Nearly five Chinese nationals were killed in an explosion during an attack on their convoy by a suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday. Reportedly, the suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers travelling from Islamabad to their camp in Dasu, situated in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Regional police chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur said that five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in the attack. As yet, none has claimed responsibility for the attack. Bisham Station House Officer (SHO) Bakht Zahir asserted that the incident was a suicide blast and the authorities concerned were collecting the evidence.

The Station House Officer further added that security arrangements were tightened at the spot and the bodies were being shifted to a hospital. He added that they will investigate from where and how the vehicle of a suicide bomber came and how it happened. Notably, this is the third major attack on Chinese interests in Pakistan within a week.

Previously, two attacks hit an airbase and a strategic port in the southwest province of Balochistan where China is investing billions in infrastructure projects. Several Chinese engineers and Pakistani construction workers have for multiple years been working on hydroelectric projects as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in the western province of Khyber-Paktunkhwa.

Notably, Dasu is home to a significant dam project, has been a target of previous attacks. Earlier in 2021, the attack in Dasu resulted in the deaths of nine Chinese nationals, along with two Pakistani children. The incident occured when a bus carrying Chinese engineers and workers to the Dasu Hydropower Project site was targeted.

There was confusion surrounding the nature of the attack initially, with some reports suggesting it was a bus accident. Nonetheless, subsequent investigations revealed that it was indeed a terrorist attack. The bus was hit by a blast, leading it to plunge into a ravine.

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US bridge collapses after being hit by ship

The rescuers were searching for at least 7 people in the water. Some reports said upto 20 construction workers were there on the Baltimore Bridge at the time of the incident. A video of the incident which was widely shared on social media showed the moment the 3 km long bridge collapsed.

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Major portions of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, US collapsed on early Tuesday morning after it was hit by a large container ship. The incident occurred at nearly 1.30 am (US local time). The Baltimore City Fire department said the collapse is a mass casualty incident.

According to reports many vehicles fell into the river below. The rescuers were searching for at least 7 people in the water. Some reports said upto 20 construction workers were there on the Baltimore Bridge at the time of the incident. A video of the incident which was widely shared on social media showed the moment the 3 km long bridge collapsed.

It seems the vessel had hit one of the supports of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the roadway to break apart in many places and plunge into the water. The ship caught fire and appeared to sink. Grace Ocean Pte Ltd, the registered owner of the ship, and the manager, Synergy Marine Group, said it is a Singapore flagged ship Dali which collided with a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland.

He said the exact cause of the incident is yet to be determined; the Dali has now mobilized its qualified individual Incident response service. It added that all crew members, including the 2 pilots who were aboard, have been accounted for and there are no reports of injuries.

The local traffic police said all lanes on both directions of the bridge have been closed and the traffic is being de-toured. Maryland Governor Wes Moore also declared a state of emergency after the collapse of the bridge. The bridge was opened in 1977, spans the Patapsco River, a vital artery that along with the Port of Baltimore is a hub for shipping on the East Coast. It is named after the writer of the Star Spangled Banner.  

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