India Mulls Resuming Crude Oil Imports From Iran Amid Rising Houthi Attacks In Red Sea And Gulf Of Aden: Report

India is reportedly considering resumption of crude oil imports from Iran as the Houthi rebels intensify their attacks on maritime trade in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden near Yemen.

The issue may have been on the agenda during the recent bilateral talks when Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Iran last week.

The route for Iranian oil shipments passes through the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, areas where the Houthi presence is minimal.

Given their alliance with Iran, the Houthis are unlikely to disrupt trade that Tehran considers significant.

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So far, India has refrained from purchasing crude oil from nations under international sanctions. It only started importing oil from Venezuela after the US lifted sanctions on the country.

“We are always monitoring the situation when it comes to crude flows. However, there have been proposals to resume crude oil imports from Iran. We are studying them,” an official was quoted as saying in a Business Standard report.

Iran was a major supplier of crude oil to India until 2018-19.

In June 2019, the Trump administration in the US imposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, ending the exemption for countries like India to import oil from Iran and disrupting the financial transactions in US dollars between India and Iran.

As a result, Iran's ranking as a crude oil exporter dropped dramatically from ninth in 2018 to seventy-first by 2021, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

“The Iranian side has been keen on resuming oil exports to India. It is badly trying to expand the small set of buyers for its oil. Also, after the impact of the pandemic, the economy is struggling,” a diplomatic source was quoted as saying in the Business Standard report.

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