Is whether India has an independent Iran policy at all?

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

The big question is whether India has an independent Iran policy at all, which is not subject to American blackmail and pressure tactic.

The India-Iran energy ties touched rock bottom in the month of July when India’s purchase of Iranian crude completely dried up. Not a drop of Iranian oil was purchased by the Indian refineries in July.

Therefore, Finance Minister Chidambaram’s statement on Monday in Delhi can be taken at face value – that India may expand oil imports from Iran within the bounds set by the UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran. After all, from ground zero, it is not possible to make a climb.

The big question is whether India has an independent Iran policy at all, which is not subject to American blackmail and pressure tactic. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit Washington in September and it seems highly unlikely that Delhi would be in a mood to show ‘strategic defiance’ of the US in the coming two-month period at least by stepping up the ties with Tehran.

The irony is that Iran’s oil exports considerably rebounded in July despite India’s refusal to buy oil from that country. Even more ironical is that much of this rebound is to be attributed to China stepping up oil imports from Iran. According to the figures cited by the International Energy Agency, China purchased an average of 660000 barrels of Iranian pol per day in July, which is a big increase from the level of 385000 bpd in June. The increased Chinese imports helped overall Iranian crude oil exports to climb to 1.16 mbd from just 960000 barrels per day in June.

Meanwhile, a new dimension to the Chinese-Iranian ties has been added with the delivery of four new supertankers by Beijing to Tehran in the recent weeks under a $1.2 billion dollar contract, which flies in the face of the US-led sanctions against Iran’s energy sector. This forms part of a big contract Tehran entered into in 2009 with two Chinese shipyards for building 12 new supertankers each with a maximum carrying capacity of 2 million barrels. The Chinese reports claim that the 12 supertankers will be delivered by the end of this year.

Curiously, this is also of some relevance to India, since Iran recently offered sovereign guarantees for tankers shipping its crude to India to cover liabilities between $50 million and $1 billion per year to compensate for the lack of insurance coverage due to the western sanctions. Technically, Tehran is going the extra league to ‘incentivise’ the mandarins in Delhi to overcome what the latter claim to be a major stumbling block in importing Iranian crude. It all now depends on the political will in Delhi to show courage to pursue an independent policy toward Iran. An alibi is no longer available to the mandarins in Delhi, who claim they are bound by only the UN sanctions but in practice buckle under American pressure.

The big picture is dismal. Delhi is unable or unwilling to connect the dots in its regional strategy. Without doubt, India is a stakeholder in the stability of Afghanistan and in the absence of the underpinning of a robust strategic understanding with Tehran, Delhi’s Afghan policy will remain largely reactive. For long India has talked about an access route via Chahbahar to Afghanistan and Central Asia but recent reports suggest a high degree of Chinese interest to upgrade and develop that Iranian port to supplement Beijing’s communication links via the Gwadar Port [with the Persian Gulf region] in Pakistan with the Persian Gulf region.

The Chinese initiative on Chabahar seems to have given some stimulus to the mandarins in Delhi to sit up and take note of the importance of India-Iran ties. There are indications that Delhi now seeks to fast-track the negotiations with Tehran over securing the contract to upgrade Chahbahar port.

However, all this may be too little, too late. Tehran has now got to carefully weigh the Chinese option as well and, therefore, it is not yet committing to India. Diplomatic circles took note that Iran’s new president Hassan Rowhani extended the courtesy of a meeting to China’s Culture Minister Cai Wu who represented his country at the Iranian leader’s swearing-in ceremony on August 4 in Tehran, while the visiting Indian vice-president M.H. Ansari had to be satisfied with a meeting with the speaker of the Majlis Ali Larijani. Interestingly, Rouhani also received the visiting Pakistani President Asif Zardari. Of course, the Iranians are veterans in choosing their diplomatic idiom.

The Indian pundits fancy that they are locked in a ‘great game’ rivalry with China over Chabahar. But in actuality, this is mere fantasy. In order to be a great game player, a country ought to have a regional strategy. And India lacks one – whereas, China, most certainly, has one wholesome regional strategy toward Iran that dovetails with its national priorities and policies in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Persian Gulf region as a whole. Beijing is far-sighted enough to appreciate the crucial importance of Iran for its overall energy security when it is set to surpass the US as the world’s largest importer of oil.

This is where a mental block arises to place blind trust in Chidambaram’s statement on Monday. Arguably, Chidambaram could be creating some ‘heft’ against the backdrop of the prime minister’s forthcoming visit to Washington by threatening to play the ‘Iran card.’


http://indrus.in/blogs/2013/08/16/tehran_shows_preference_to_china_28525.html

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India better bows to U.S demand or no spare parts for all military equipments bought from U.S. such C-17, C-130, artillery

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

The irony is that Iran’s oil exports considerably rebounded in July despite India’s refusal to buy oil from that country. Even more ironical is that much of this rebound is to be attributed to China stepping up oil imports from Iran. According to the figures cited by the International Energy Agency, China purchased an average of 660000 barrels of Iranian pol per day in July, which is a big increase from the level of 385000 bpd in June. The increased Chinese imports helped overall Iranian crude oil exports to climb to 1.16 mbd from just 960000 barrels per day in June.

Fantastic news. We need to buy more oil from Iran.

The India-Iran energy ties touched rock bottom in the month of July when India’s purchase of Iranian crude completely dried up. Not a drop of Iranian oil was purchased by the Indian refineries in July.

Wow, India did not buy even 1 barrel of Iranian oil in July?

 

[Enemy]

Whether India buys oil from Iran or not, whether India supports US efforts to denuclearize Iran or not, whether India supports the UN sanctions or not, Iranians will always support Indians.

That said, I guess, India will have to follow what US says. India is not stupid to antagonize Americans. This is the reality Indians and Iranians have to understand and live with. Iran should get wise and abandon its nuclear ambitions. Iran is lucky that it has not been nuked yet. They should not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki. US will never allow Iran to develop nukes no matter what.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Another article with the same data. The original source is the report from the International Energy Agency.

India-China Rivalry Threatens US Sanctions On Iran | The Editor | The Diplomat

The International Energy Agency (IEA) noted in a report last week that Iran’s oil exports rebounded considerably in July from the month before. According to the IEA’s preliminary data, most of this increase came from China, which purchased an average of 660,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran in July, compared to 385,000 bpd in June.

The IEA report further noted that Iran’s has been expanding the size of its tanker fleet, with much of the new tankers coming from China. This should pave the way for increased Iranian crude sales to China in the months ahead.

While the IEA’s data found that India did not purchase any Iranian crude in the month of July, this is merely a temporary lapse.

And something else interesting:

Iran beefs up oil tanker fleet on growing business from China - France 24

In contrast, however, the IEA said that preliminary data show that Iranian crude oil exports climbed to 1.16 mbd from just 960,000 barrels per day in June, mainly owing to a rebound in Chinese imports which last month rose to 660,000 barrels of oil per day from 385,000 the month before.

"Just five countries reported importing crude from Iran in July -- China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates," the IEA said, noting the number of countries totalled as many as 16 in January 2012.

In the month of July, only 5 countries imported oil from Iran. And considering that apart from China, the other 4 countries are American allies... maybe one day soon we will be the only major buyer of Iranian oil.

Which is not good news for China or Iran. Buyers and sellers should be diversified to avoid over-reliance on a single trading partner.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Whether India buys oil from Iran or not, whether India supports US efforts to denuclearize Iran or not, whether India supports the UN sanctions or not, Iranians will always support Indians.

That said, I guess, India will have to follow what US says. India is not stupid to antagonize Americans. This is the reality Indians and Iranians have to understand and live with. Iran should get wise and abandon its nuclear ambitions. Iran is lucky that it has not been nuked yet. They should not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki. US will never allow Iran to develop nukes no matter what.

I would like to have Iranians opinions on this ...this is like to ask Iran to pay India for oil that you got from them?

 

[Enemy]

I would like to have Iranians opinions on this

Had there been no UN, no Russia or China to back Iran.... US would have the free run. Everybody knows this including the Iranians.

It is a fact of life. I won't make stupid comments to make them happy. Same is true in case of North Korea.

Only difference is North Korea has already developed nukes, while Iran is a few steps away may be from developing one.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Article found by ChinaToday, and also relevant for this thread:

Coincidence? Iran Seizes Indian Ship After India Cuts Oil Imports - Forbes

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

@Enemy, we're not talking Iran's nuclear...don't try to highjack this thread, we're talking about India's foreign policy, don't you guy still claim to have independant foregin policy? for me India is more and more just become U.S lap dog.

 

[GR!FF!N]

@Enemy, we're not talking Iran's nuclear...don't try to highjack this thread, we're talking about India's foreign policy, don't you guy still claim to have independant foregin policy? for me India is more and more just become U.S lap dog.

hey,do you post in The Diplomat under the name of some "John Chan"????cause,the term "US Lapdog" is patent of his,don't know what they mean actually..and m0r0n,its not dancing under USA policy,but unable to pay them in some means and Insurance issues that stopped us from buying Iran...

by the way,for you only........


India’s Hindustan Petroleum will resume buying Iranian crude if the government unveils an adequate backup plan for local insurers to provide cover for its refineries, its head of refineries B. K. Namdeo said Monday. HPCL, along with MRPL, had stopped purchases due to difficulties getting insurance for refineries processing Iranian oil, forcing New Delhi to look at providing its own reinsurance after European firms backed out over sanctions.

India is thinking of providing a 20 billion rupee ($327 million) state guarantee to back local insurance for plants using Iranian oil, an industry source said last week.

“We are waiting for a clarification from the Finance Ministry how they are going about it ... If insurance clause comes in our favor then we will process Iranian oil,” Namdeo told a news conference.

He said the firm in its annual strategy for this fiscal year had kept a provision to buy 20,000 bpd Iranian oil.

But a company official said on condition of anonymity the planned 40 billion rupee reinsurance cover was not sufficient as HPCL’s “one time maximum permissible claim under the current policy is about 54 billion rupees.”

But MRPL had resumed Iranian oil imports from this month, its managing director said earlier Tuesday.

To replace the lost Iranian barrels HPCL had lifted intake of Iraqi crude and aimed to buy up to 40,000 bpd of Nigerian oil from the spot market in this fiscal year, slightly more than in 2012/13, Namdeo said.

In this fiscal year it had also lifted a small quantity of oil from Brunei, Namdeo added.

HPCL planned to buy up to 100,000 bpd Basra light in the current fiscal year, he said.

Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on Iran over its nuclear program have cost Tehran billions of dollars in revenue since the start of 2012.

Its top four oil clients have cut their imports by more than a fifth in the first six months of the year, and are soon to face increased pressure from the U.S. to trim shipments further.

HPCL had also partnered SP Ports Pvt Ltd, a unit of Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji group, to build a five-million-tons a year liquefied natural gas terminal in western Gujarat state, according to its head of finance K. V. Rao.

HPCL would have a 50 percent stake in the project, Rao said.

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