Indian Firm Hit by US Sanctions Over Trade With Iran as Talks on JCPOA Revival Stalled

The news comes days after Tehran reportedly asked India to follow the Russian model and resume oil trade. During their latest in-person meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit earlier this month, India's PM Modi conveyed to Iranian President Raisi that New Delhi was opposed to the unilateral introduction of sanctions.

The US Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned a group of brokers and entities in India, China, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates over what Washington claims to be "illicit" sale of Iran's oil & petrochemicals.

In India, the sanctions targeted the Mumbai-based petrochemical company Tibalaji Petrochem Private Limited for allegedly purchasing Triliance-brokered petrochemical products, including methanol and base oil, worth millions of dollars for onward shipment to China.

The US describes Triliance as a “critical component of Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors,” which brokers the sale of Iranian products to foreign purchasers.

Sputnik approached the Mumbai-based firm on the matter, but it could not immediately provide the response to the US accusations.

“We have information about the announcement. We do not have any comment to offer at the moment. We will get back to you once we fully analyze it,” an official of the Tibalaji Petrochem told Sputnik.

The firm offers “prompt delivery of bulk requirements on a high seas/bond transfer basis" and completes "Retail or Small requirements on a local tax basis.”

The sanctions were announced shortly after Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar returned from his 10-day trip to the US, where he held meetings with several US officials, including Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Commerce Secretary Gail Raimondo.

Sitting next to Blinken on Wednesday, Jaishankar urged the US to “soften up” the stressed “energy markets.”

“Countries in the Global South have found it difficult to compete for limited energy, not just in terms of pricing, escalating pricing, but often in terms of availability. There are tenders – countries have had tenders for which they don’t even get a reply from suppliers,” Jaishankar noted.

In June, India's top diplomat slammed the West for squeezing “every source of oil” that India earlier had access to, including from Iran and Venezuela.

Tehran has approached New Delhi several times this year, urging the Indian government to resume oil trade, which remains halted since 2019 due to the American sanctions.

Kabir Taneja, a fellow at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation and author of "The ISIS Peril", said that the sanctions on a group of firms do not have a specific message for New Delhi.

“The US has added extra sanctions against any entity looking to do business with the Iranian oil sector, including companies based in Hong Kong and other parts. The sanction is not a Delhi-specific message, we have to remember that India supported the JCPOA engagements and the 2015 deal between Tehran and P5+1,” Taneja told Sputnik.

The sanctions come as efforts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal, remain deadlocked.

Iran's President Raisi recently said that Tehran has been extremely flexible during the negotiations to revive the deal and is willing to resolve all issues as long as the rights of the Iranian people are respected.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has threatened that anyone involved in "facilitating these sales and transactions should cease and desist immediately."