US sanctions Indian firm over Iran oil trade
The US has targeted an Indian firm over its links to the Iranian oil trade, as part of the State Department’s latest list of entities and individuals to be hit with unilateral sanctions.
The move comes as the US tries to further squeeze the already heavily sanctioned Islamic Republic amid Washington’s inability to end the conflict in the Middle East.
In its statement, the State Department identified the sanctioned Indian petrochemical trading firm as Rishabh Triexim, which it said imported $54.6 million worth of Iranian-origin petrochemical products from multiple companies between February and August 2024. Swaroop Jayantilal Bagrecha, its partner, has also been sanctioned.
Indian businesses are more vulnerable to possible secondary sanctions, as unlike Australia, China, and the EU, New Delhi has not adopted any “blocking statute” that prohibits local entities from complying with foreign sanctions.
As the world’s third-largest oil buyer, India relies on imports for around 85% of its oil needs, leaving it vulnerable to rising energy prices and disruptions in the supply chain through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Trump administration likely sees this as an opportunity to sell more energy resources, mainly oil and LNG, to India.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted as much to reporters in Miami before leaving for his visit to India, saying: “We want to sell them as much energy as they’ll buy. We want them to be a bigger part of the portfolio.”
India, which was Iran’s third largest oil buyer, halted its crude oil imports from the Islamic Republic in May 2019 to comply with US sanctions.
Western pressure on India over its purchases of oil is “neocolonial,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this month.
Since 2022, New Delhi has ramped up imports of Russian oil significantly and continues to rely on Russian crude to meet its demand, despite continuous pressure from Western countries over the Ukraine conflict.
The US had earlier imposed a 25% additional levy, now lifted, on Indian imports as a punitive measure for purchases of Russian oil. New Delhi has always maintained that its energy purchases are dictated by national interests.
