US to ask India and four others to end completely Iranian oil imports: report
Washington: The US on Monday is set to ask five nations, including India and China, to completely end their imports of Iranian oil or be subject to US sanctions, a media report said, a decision that comes about a year after America quit the Iran nuclear deal and imposed toughest ever sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation.
The move which is seen as an escalation of the US President Donald Trump administration's "maximum pressure" on Iran comes after it last year gave temporary 180-days waiver to eight countries, including India, China and Japan among others.
The decision allowed them to continue buying Iranian oil as they showed "significant reduction" in oil purchase from Tehran, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
"On Monday morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will announce to the media that, as of May 2, the State Department will no longer grant sanctions waivers to any country that is currently importing Iranian crude or condensate," two State Department officials were quoted as saying to the paper.
The waiver to India was also seen as a recognition by Washington of New Delhi's role in development of the port on the Gulf of Oman, which is of immense strategic importance for the development of war-torn Afghanistan.
In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan had inked a pact which entailed establishment of Transit and Transport Corridor among the three countries using Chabahar Port as one of the regional hubs for sea transportation in Iran, besides multi-modal transport of goods and passengers across the three nations
China and India are currently the largest importers of Iranian oil. If they don't go along with Trump's demands, that could cause tensions in both bilateral relationships and spill over into other issues, like trade, the report said.
Iran is India's third-largest oil supplier behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Iran supplied 18.4 million tonnes of crude oil during April 2017 and January 2018 (first 10 months of 2017-18 fiscal).
The report also said that South Korea and Japan are relatively less dependent on Iranian oil and have already been treading lightly.
A Turkish official has said the country is expecting another waiver, but it isn't getting one, the report said.
The decision to end the waivers has implications for world oil markets, which have been eagerly anticipating Trump's decision on whether to extend waivers, the paper reported.
The officials said market disruption should be minimal for two reasons: supply is now greater than demand and Pompeo is also set to announce offsets through commitments from other suppliers such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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Zero tolerance for someone like Prajwal Revanna, K'taka govt allowed him to leave country: PM Modi
New Delhi, May 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted that there should be zero tolerance for someone like Prajwal Revanna, and accused the Congress government in Karnataka of allowing the JD(S) MP to go out of the country and releasing the incriminating sex videos after the polls were over in the region dominated by Vokkaligas.
Modi told Times Now that the responsibility to take action in the raging matter lay with the state government as it was a law and order issue, according to the transcript of the interview provided by the broadcaster.
He said the presence of thousands of videos implies that it is of the time when the JD(S) was in alliance with the Congress. These videos were gathered when they were in power and they released it during the elections after Vokkaligas exercised their franchise, he added.
The videos were released after he was sent out of the country, the prime minister said, calling the development very suspicious. If the state government had information, it should have kept a watch and there should have been vigil at the airport, he said.
"You did not do anything, the government of India was not informed. This means that it was a political game and they know that these videos were from the time they were in alliance and they accumulated these videos. However, this is not my issue, my issue is that any culprit should not be spared. These games should be stopped in our nation," he said, according to the transcript.
He added, "As far as Modi is concerned, as far as the BJP is concerned, as far as our Constitution is concerned, I am of the clear view that there should be zero tolerance against such people. Stringent punishment should be given using all the legal options available."
Replying to a question, he said, "We should bring him back and strict action should be taken against him. There should be no ifs and buts."
The Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) ran an alliance government in Karnataka after the 2018 polls and parted ways after fighting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls together.
Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led party entered into an alliance with the BJP in September last year and they are fighting the current Lok Sabha polls together.
The Congress has used the issue of Revanna's alleged sexual exploitation of a large number of women, captured in nearly 3000 video clips, to target the BJP.
Revanna, Gowda's grandson, is again in the fray from Hassan, where polling was held on April 26. The regional party enjoys influence in south Karnataka, especially among Vokkaligas, the community Gowda belongs to.
To a poser about his charge against the Congress over issues like inheritance tax and redistribution of wealth, the prime minister said he has cited the language, words and written assurance of the party and its leaders to make his point.
"This time I have exposed them to the hilt. That is why they are rattled. When they go seeking votes of one community, they speak differently, and when they approach the other community, they take a neutral stand. This is their duplicity," he said.
This is unlike the BJP which always talked about building the Ram temple, abrogation of Article 370, and the Uniform Civil Code, he noted.
On the other hand, the Congress has been continuously lying while attacking the BJP by alleging that it intends to change the Constitution, he said, adding that some BJP members said something and the Congress blew it out of proportion.
"They are refusing to hear our version. Now, the Congress asks where wealth distribution and inheritance tax are mentioned in its manifesto. The Congress shouldn't have double standards. The Congress will have to answer," Modi said.
Expanding his arguments against reservation based on religion, he said such an idea goes against the Constitution. Citing his government's welfare measures, Modi said he does not discriminate on the basis of religion.
