A day before the BRICS summit in the capital on Thursday, India, too, was firm on its stand on not following the US diktat. Ironically, India recently supported the US on the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution against Sri Lanka.
‘We respect the UN resolution and none of our countries (BRICS) are violating it by continuing trade with Iran. The UN resolution does not stop us from trading with Iran. For us, Iran is one of the important sources of energy for us,’ said commerce minister Anand Sharma. India imported 18 metric tonnes of oil from Iran from 2010 to 2012.
Chinese trade minister Chen Deming called the decision to levy sanctions against Iran as part of the US domestic law. ‘We (BRICS nations) are not obliged to follow any domestic law of the US against Iran,’ Deming said.China and Russia had voted against the US resolution against Sri Lanka.
The US invoked its export control regime against Iran in December last year for its nuclear enrichment programme. Under the law, all countries have to significantly reduce the amount of crude oil purchase from Iran or face being cut off from the US financial system. An ultimatum states 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.(lankanewspapers)