The US has imposed economic sanctions on an Indian company for purchasing Iranian petroleum products. These items were then reportedly shipped to China.
Mumbai-based Tibalaji Petrochem was among a group of companies, including some from the UAE and Hong Kong, to be targeted for the sanctions.
“Tibalaji...is the first Indian entity to face...unilateral sanctions passed in 2018-19, after the US Trump administration’s decision to walk out of the nuclear deal...with Iran,” The Hindu reported today. “...the Modi government agreed to end all oil imports from Iran in 2019, that made up about 11% of India’s intake, rather than face the sanctions.”
Notably, the sanctions were reported a day after Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar returned from the US.
Tibalaji had reportedly purchased millions of dollars worth of petrochemical products, including methanol and base oil, from Triliance, an Iranian company that brokers the sale of Iranian products to foreign purchasers, for onward shipment to China.
The US sanctions on Tibalaji for its Iranian deals come amid India’s booming bilateral trade—mostly crude oil-based—with Russia, another country that has been facing Western sanctions since the launch of its Ukraine invasion earlier this year.