Modi Conveyed Displeasure Over 'Unilateral Sanctions' in Meeting With Raisi, Tehran Says

India stopped buying Iranian crude oil in 2019 after the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and imposed sanctions against Tehran. Before Indian refiners stopped buying Iranian oil, the Islamic republic was the third-biggest oil supplier for New Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country was opposed to the imposition of sanctions by one nation against another, the office of the president of Iran said on Saturday.

Tehran's statement came a day after President Ebrahim Raisi held his first one-to-one meeting with Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand.

In its statement issued after the talks, the Indian foreign ministry did not mention Modi's views about the sanctions against Tehran.

India's Foreign Secretary, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, did say that the two leaders discussed an entire range of economic cooperation, including energy-related issues.

President Raisi described relations with New Delhi as one of the priorities of Iran's foreign policy.

The Iranian president urged Modi to take advantage of "the existing capacities in the oil and gas industry," indicating that Tehran continued to push New Delhi to resume oil trade which had been halted since 2019 because of US sanctions.

Referring to Iran's progress in various scientific and industrial fields, Raisi emphasized: "Cruel sanctions will not interrupt the progress of the Iranian nation."

Earlier on Friday, the Indian Foreign Secretary said the two leaders reviewed progress in the development of Chabahar Port and highlighted the importance of bilateral cooperation in regional connectivity.

President Raisi also briefed Modi on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations, the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal, which was abandoned by the US in 2018 when it reinstated sanctions against Iran that had been lifted by the agreement.

Iran has been asking New Delhi to resume oil trade by "ignoring" sanctions imposed by the US, in an effort to replicate Delhi's approach to Russian oil.