ID :
173261
Tue, 04/05/2011 - 14:34
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/173261
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Iran-India oil trade halted in Germany
India has agreed to stop paying for its Iranian oil imports via Germany, a German official said on Tuesday, ending a trade conduit that had drawn strong disapproval from the United States and Israel, Reuters reported.
The decision was a result of consultations between Berlin and New Delhi, and not pressure from Chancellor Angela Merkel at home or abroad to disrupt the payment scheme, the high-ranking government official said, declining to be named.
"India has told us that this route is being phased out," he said, confirming newspaper reports indicating that billions of euros of payments to a Hamburg-based bank handling international trade with Iran had been halted.
Earlier, Handelsblatt business daily reported that Merkel had intervened by instructing Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, to stop clearing payments from India headed to the bank, known as EIH, which is under U.S. but not EU sanctions.
Israel , whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Merkel this week, wants Germany to shut down EIH, saying it supports the spread of weapons of mass destruction by handling payments to participants in Iran's contentious nuclear programme.
EIH came under renewed scrutiny last week when it emerged that Berlin had allowed India to pay for oil purchases from Iran via the bank, after India restricted its own direct payments to Iran to placate Washington's hard-line stance.
Recently the U.S. pressure on Germany has intensified because of India's use of the European-Iranian commercial bank (Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH) in making payments for the oil purchase from Iran. Washington believes the funds can help finance Iran's programs on developing nuclear weapons.
In September 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department accused the EIH Bank of making payments to facilitate the financing of Iran's nuclear program, including $3 million in 2007 to acquire material for Iran's missile programs, and in mediation for several Iranian banks, which are closely linked to government. The U.S. Department has added the EIH Bank in its list of financial institutions whose activities are blocked.
The U.S. Treasury Department alleges that the EIH Bank provides financial services to a number of organizations named in the "black list" of the EU document, which came into force in October 2010. One is the Bank Mellat in Tehran, which, according to the EU, contributes to the Iranian program to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Resolutions approved by the UN Security Council, as well as additional unilateral sanctions adopted by the U.S. Congress and the Foreign Ministries of EU countries, primarily focused on the energy, banking and financial sector of Iran.
The EU froze the assets of dozens of companies and individuals, including several banks, suspected of supporting Iran's program to develop nuclear weapons. EIH Bank was not included in the list, and EU regulations do not prohibit payments for Iran's oil and gas.
The decision was a result of consultations between Berlin and New Delhi, and not pressure from Chancellor Angela Merkel at home or abroad to disrupt the payment scheme, the high-ranking government official said, declining to be named.
"India has told us that this route is being phased out," he said, confirming newspaper reports indicating that billions of euros of payments to a Hamburg-based bank handling international trade with Iran had been halted.
Earlier, Handelsblatt business daily reported that Merkel had intervened by instructing Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, to stop clearing payments from India headed to the bank, known as EIH, which is under U.S. but not EU sanctions.
Israel , whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Merkel this week, wants Germany to shut down EIH, saying it supports the spread of weapons of mass destruction by handling payments to participants in Iran's contentious nuclear programme.
EIH came under renewed scrutiny last week when it emerged that Berlin had allowed India to pay for oil purchases from Iran via the bank, after India restricted its own direct payments to Iran to placate Washington's hard-line stance.
Recently the U.S. pressure on Germany has intensified because of India's use of the European-Iranian commercial bank (Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank (EIH) in making payments for the oil purchase from Iran. Washington believes the funds can help finance Iran's programs on developing nuclear weapons.
In September 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department accused the EIH Bank of making payments to facilitate the financing of Iran's nuclear program, including $3 million in 2007 to acquire material for Iran's missile programs, and in mediation for several Iranian banks, which are closely linked to government. The U.S. Department has added the EIH Bank in its list of financial institutions whose activities are blocked.
The U.S. Treasury Department alleges that the EIH Bank provides financial services to a number of organizations named in the "black list" of the EU document, which came into force in October 2010. One is the Bank Mellat in Tehran, which, according to the EU, contributes to the Iranian program to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Resolutions approved by the UN Security Council, as well as additional unilateral sanctions adopted by the U.S. Congress and the Foreign Ministries of EU countries, primarily focused on the energy, banking and financial sector of Iran.
The EU froze the assets of dozens of companies and individuals, including several banks, suspected of supporting Iran's program to develop nuclear weapons. EIH Bank was not included in the list, and EU regulations do not prohibit payments for Iran's oil and gas.
