India 'concerned' over sanctions on Iran

India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133540§ionid=351020103



The US unilateral sanctions against Iran could have a "direct impact" on India's energy sector, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has said.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama signed into law new unilateral sanctions against Tehran aimed at preventing Iran's access to imports of refined oil products.

The bill will deny companies that supply Iran with refined petroleum products access to US markets.

It came less than a month after the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over the country's nuclear program.

"We are justifiably concerned that the extra-territorial nature of certain unilateral sanctions recently imposed by individual countries, with their restrictions on investment by third countries in Iran's energy sector, can have a direct and adverse impact on Indian companies," Rao said in the Strategic Dialogue on India and Iran seminar in New Delhi.

She reiterated India's support of "dialogue and avoidance of confrontation," saying the peaceful use of nuclear energy within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was the right of all nations, The Hindu reported.