Monday 13 February 2012

Lobby: ‘India becomes Iran’s top oil customer’

On February 9, 2012 – the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) owned by the Israel-Firster billionaire Rupert Murdoch reported that India has become Islamic Republic’s top oil customer in January, surpassing China.

India increased its (550,000 barrels a day in January, up 37.5% from December, 2011) imports of Iran’s oil to become its largest customer last month, partly offsetting a cut in Chinese purchases, as sanctions failed to significantly dent Tehran’s sales, people in the oil industry said,” reported WSJ.
Despite a pledge to find alternatives, South Africa has also increased its Iranian oil imports to 100,000 barrels a day,” reported WSJ.

Overall Iranian crude exports remained steady in January,” admits paranoid Zionist writer Benoit Faucon.

On February 11, 2012 – Jim Yardley wrote in Jewish-owned the New York Times that India is determined to continue buying Iranian oil, despite sanctions and growing political pressure from the US and Europe, has frustrated ZOG officials in Washington.

The European Union insiders have admitted that last month EU foreign ministers agreed to put further sanctions against the Islamic regime – was ill-advised decision but was carried out under USsraeli pressure. Former British ambassador to IAEA, Peter Jenkins in a recent article has claimed that EU miniters lied to the public that the new sanctions are to force Iran to renegotiate with P5+1 its disputed nuclear program. The fact is the P5+1 still want Tehran to submit to USraeli demands which Iranians have rejected in the past.

Islamic Republic has been under the US sanctions since 1979 Islamic Revolution. However, Washington failed to weaken the new anti-Israel government in Tehran by reducing its trade with Iran to a minimum level. The next step was to gather the “willing partners” from the international community – applying threats and bribes to stop them trading with Iran. The successive regimes in Tehran have countered the USrael strategy by establishing trading-partners among Asian, African and South American countries which were struggling against western political, financial and military imperialism.

In 1996, during Bill Clinton first term, the Congress passed Iran-Libya Sanction Act (ILSA) which targeted US and foreign companies having trade with Iran, Libya, Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad over $20 million. On April 26, 2006 – House passed HR 282 sponsored by anti-Muslim Jewish Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and supported by 397 US lawmakers on Jewish lobby payroll. The bill prohibited the US Export-Import bank to provide letter of credit to anyone having dealing with Iranian banks or firms.

However, several countries which sided with the US sanctions in the begining – came to realizations that such sanctions are in fact hurting their economy as result of America’s blind support for Israel. By 2010, the EU (21%), China (15%), Japan (8%), India (8%), UAE (8%), South Korea (7%) and Turkey (5%) were Iran’s main trade partners.

Since 2008, China has told the US that it will not accept anti-Iran sanctions unless it were passed by the UNSC. China being a veto power at the UNSC, has become a stumbling block against any such move due to country’s energy security which only neighboring Iran can provide. China’s dependence on Iranian oil has gradually grown. In 2008, China imported 408,000 barrels of oil per day, rising to 554,000 barrels per day in 2010 and is expected to surpass 610,000 barrels per day by the end of 2012.
London-based political analyst, Chris Bambery, in a recent interview with Russian Television (RT) said: “Europeans should question why they are being asked to pay for an American-Israeli adventure in Iran during a time of unprecedented austerity“.

India’s determined to continue buying Iranian oil, becoming Tehran's 'top oil customer'!

"... India’s determination to continue buying Iranian oil, despite sanctions and growing political pressure from the United States and Europe, has frustrated officials in Washington at a time when the forward momentum in the United States-India relationship has slowed, with differences over issues including civil nuclear cooperation, trade protectionism and military sales. 

The situation was exacerbated last week by news reports that India had become Iran’s top oil customer, while an Indian official announced plans to send a trade delegation to Tehran. In New Delhi, diplomats and analysts say India’s purchasing of Iranian oil is a matter of economic necessity, given its dependence on imported oil. Some say the purchases also represent diplomatic hedging in a region bracing for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by 2014, or possibly sooner.
Indeed, many Indian officials, even those supportive of a stronger partnership with the United States, caution against turning issues like Iran into diplomatic litmus tests, considering the complexities of a neighborhood in which India represents a bulwark of stability, democracy and economic opportunity compared with Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries.
“This can’t be a test of our friendship,” said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the United States. “Washington must realize that we are in a neighborhood where Iran is a factor.”
India’s most immediate concern is fueling its economy, which has slowed in the past year. India buys about 12 percent of its crude oil from Iran, and many Indian refineries have been built to run solely on Iranian crude, meaning they would have to be retrofitted in order to process oil from other countries.
“To shift is not something that can be done very easily,” said one senior Indian official, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity given the delicacy of the situation. The official added: “Where would we get that refining capacity? Who would be our new suppliers?”
Even so, India has tried for several years to reduce its dependence on Iranian crude oil, partly because of the new sanctions by the Obama administration punishing any banks that do business with Iran. To work around these sanctions, Indian oil companies have made payments to Iran through a bank in Turkey that fell outside the American restrictions.
However, Indian officials are preparing for the likelihood that the Turkish avenue may soon be closed. The senior Indian official confirmed recent reports that India and Iran had agreed on a deal in which Indian companies would pay for 45 percent of their imports in Indian rupees — thus avoiding the need to pay in dollars — and might even settle the remainder of the debts through barter....
Like the United States, India is alarmed at the possibility of Iran’s developing nuclear weapons, and it has called on Iran to fulfill its obligations as a nonnuclear weapon state under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Indian diplomats, though, also worry about the economic impact of greater instability in Iran and the Persian Gulf region; they say more than six million Indians work in the gulf, sending home roughly $40 billion a year in remittances.
Iran is also a factor in the uncertain endgame in Afghanistan. K. C. Singh, a former Indian ambassador in Tehran, said India and Iran cooperated to support the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance before the fall of the Taliban in 2001. But that relationship cooled as American troops settled in Afghanistan, and India and the United States moved closer together. Now, though, Mr. Singh said India was “scampering to recover” its relationship with Iran as a hedge to prepare for an uncertain future in Afghanistan.
“They are attempting to do it now out of some serious concerns about what may happen after 2014, or earlier,” Mr. Singh said.
Even so, India’s current leaders remain committed to ever-strengthening ties with the United States. In a speech on Monday in Washington, Mr. Mathai spoke of the great potential of the two nations’ partnership, if also the complexities embedded into it.
“Given our different circumstances, history, location and levels of development, we will occasionally have differing perspectives and policies,” he said, according to a transcript of his speech. “But this can be a source of great value and strength.”
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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