India, the world’s fourth-largest oil consumer, will not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite US and European sanctions against Tehran, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday during a visit to Chicago.
The US wants buyers in Asia, Iran’s biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran to rein in its nuclear ambitions. India, which imports 12 percent of its oil from the Islamic Republic, cannot do without Iranian oil, Mukherjee said. “It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide requirement of emerging economies, Iran is an important country,” Mukherjee told reporters in Chicago at the end of a two-day visit aimed at wooing US investment.