WHAT HAS HAPPENED ?
India has been asked by Iran to resume oil purchases from the country, "ignoring unilateral" sanctions imposed by the US,
Similar to what New Delhi has done with Russian oil by skirting western sanctions in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The matter was expected to be raised by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during an in-person meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
BUT WHAT ABOUT SANCTIONS BY US ON IRAN ?
According to Iranian officials, the sanctions imposed by the US are "unilateral" and are not UN-led, even then India stopped buying oil from that country. But now that India has worked out a mechanism on skirting the sanctions imposed on Russia, New Delhi should follow the same policy for Tehran too, the officials said.
India's efforts to diversify its energy basket by importing crude oil from non-Opec sources are bearing fruit as it is set to sign long-term contracts to procure
At least 2 million tonnes (mt) of crude from Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and 1 mt from Colombia's state-run Ecopetrol SA.
Even before the SCO summit began, Mr. Modi sent the world a number of messages. To begin with, the visit reinforces his commitment to an Indian foreign policy that balances various blocs - Pitting India's membership of the SCO and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) against its membership of the Quad (Australia, India, Japan, the U.S.), groups such as the 12U2 (India Israel U.S.-UAE), and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
This was highlighted more recently with India joining the Russian-led 'Vostok' Army Exercises along with China, and plans to host SCO RATS (or the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) counterterror exercises, While the Indian Air Force took part in the Australian 'Pitch Black'
exercises, and the Indian Army is planning exercises with the U.S. (Yudh Abhyas) next month close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In a Venn diagram, India is the only country that would form the intersection, a part of all of those groupings.
Another juxtaposition is that of values over interests, or that of the western brand of a "coalition of democracies", against a more Eurasian brand of a "coalition of common goals". While Mr. Modi has skipped all the Non-Aligned Movement summits in his tenure (the only Indian Prime Minister to do so, apart from caretaker Prime Minister Charan Singh in 1979), he chose to lead India into the SCO in 2017.
Next year, India will host the SCO summit, and is expected to invite all members this includes Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
