Tehran
\nIndia has reportedly handed Iran a tax break worth hundreds of millions of dollars, effectively green-lighting a crude oil import deal that had thus far been hindered by sweeping US sanctions.
\nIndia, one of among eight countries exempted from those sanctions for six months, has moved to pay for the oil in its currency, rupee, since the main banking channels dealing with global currencies are blocked by Washington\u2019s measures.
\nThe $1.5 billion crude oil deal was signed on November 2 between India\u2019s finance ministry and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Reuters reported Monday, citing a government order.
\nSuch a payment to a foreign company operating in India would have normally been subject to a tax of 42.5 percent, or $637.5 million \u2014 a deal-breaker for the Iranians \u2014 according to the report.
\nThe exemption from that tax was signed by the Indian finance ministry on Friday and is backdated to November 5, the report said.
\nThe payment to NIOC will be in rupees \u2014 a currency that can\u2019t be freely traded internationally \u2014 and will be used by Tehran to pay for imports from India, invest in Indian businesses and pay expenses of Iranian missions and students in India.
\n\u201cIn the previous round of sanctions Iran was allowed to use funds for imports from India but this time we have expanded the scope for use of funds to benefit both nations,\u201d an unnamed Indian government official was quoted by Reuters as saying.
\nIn November, US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration reinstated all of Washington\u2019s sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.
\nThe sanctions were the second batch that the Trump administration has reimposed on the Islamic Republic since it withdrew from the nuclear agreement last year.
\nThe rollback ended US participation in the Obama-era accord, which now hangs in the balance as Iran no longer enjoys the billions of dollars in sanctions relief it was granted under the deal in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
\nIran is already in the grip of an economic crisis. Its rial currency has plummeted and oil exports have steeply fallen, though India and China have continued to purchase it. Most Europeans, as well as Japan and South Korea, have stopped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tehran India has reportedly handed Iran a tax break worth hundreds of millions of dollars, effectively green-lighting a crude oil import deal that had thus far been hindered by sweeping US sanctions. India, one of among eight countries exempted from those sanctions for six months, has moved to pay for the oil in its currency, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n