New Delhi: With huge oil importer India in the process of completely stopping the import of oil from Iran under the threat of US sanctions, Iran’s ambassador Ali Chegeni has said his country is “secretly” selling oil to some other nations. He said the secret sale was because the nations that were secretly procuring Iranian oil would come under US pressure if the sale was made public. Striking a defiant note in the wake of the US sanctions, he said: “We can manage our country. These sanctions will affect us, but not kill us.”
Asked about India stopping the import of Iranian oil, he said “India is under pressure”, but added India would be Iran’s friend “forever”. Stating that Iran is ready to be the “protector of energy security for India” (anytime in the future), Mr Chegeni said Tehran hadn’t received any “negative signal” from New Delhi that oil would not be procured by India from Iran in future. He also said it was possible that the development of Chabahar port could be affected “indirectly” as private Indian firms involved in the project may be worried over any impact on them due to the American actions.
Speaking to reporters late Tuesday evening, the Iranian ambassador told reporters in New Delhi: “We are selling oil. It is not a secret. Many countries are taking oil from us both officially and unofficially. This is not a secret as this is our right... The destinations (are) secret, otherwise they will be under pressure (from the) Americans.”
On the Indo-Iran relationship, the ambassador said: “We consider India a friendly country. India is our friend forever. India will act in its national interests. India will follow its national interests. We know India is under pressure. India’s friend is Iran. (So far as) affordability, accessibility and security of energy (is concerned), Iran is the only country that can have all aspects of energy for India. Iran is ready to be the protector of security of energy for India. Maybe import (of oil) stopped under pressure but we did not get any negative signal from the Indian government” (that it will not procure Iranian oil in future), the Iranian ambassador said.
Mr Chegeni further said: “We believe India will look into the future. We are hopeful that our relationship will continue. Upto April, our bilateral economy, bilateral trade between the two countries was near to $18 billion. This is the first time despite the sanctions that in our whole history the relationship reached this point. In the previous year it was $13.7 billion, mostly in favour of India. India needs a lot of products from Iran.”
On the Chabahar project, he said it was of interest not just to Iran but also to India, but indicated the project may be affected indirectly due to the US sanctions. “(If) banks don’t dare to come, (Indian) private companies will say the future is not clear for them, so somehow it is a sanction... indirectly. We work with India on Chabahar. ... Nobody can ignore importance of Chabahar. We wish the ‘golden gate’ won’t be affected but nobody can ignore that it will be affected,” Mr Chegeni added.
Lashing out at the US, he said: “They (America) created terrorism, they created ISIS.”
