“We are talking to the US on energy-related aspects, including the waiver from sanctions. It is a continuous process,” said Sanjay Sudhir, joint secretary for international co-operation in the oil ministry, according to Reuters.
India, Iran’s second-biggest oil customer after China, has already reduced its intake of Iranian oil but has not decided whether to end purchases completely.
India prefers Iranian oil as it comes cheap and suits many refineries' technical configuration.
On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), and announced plans for new sanctions against Tehran.
The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.
Those sanctions were supposed to shut down Iranian oil exports, but they failed to do so after Washington, over fear of a supply crunch in global markets, granted eight countries temporary exemptions to allow them to buy from Tehran without any punishment.