Waiver for India on Iran oil embargo only for 6 months: US

Putting a damper on the increased Indo-US bonhomie after India along with seven other countries were exempted from the sanctions on importing Iranian oil, a US official clarified in Washington on Thursday that the exemption is valid for only six months, and is conditional on these countries continuing to reduce their dependence on oil from Tehran.

''This is something that we're asking of all of our partners around the world. This is not something that's focused on India. But the current exceptions that have been granted apply for a period of 180 days,'' assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told reporters at a news conference in Washington.

''So we're asking all of our friends and all countries around the world to continue to reduce their imports of oil from Iran and to discontinue transactions with the Central Bank of Iran and that there needs to be continued progress on that. We hope we'll see that,'' he said.

''These sanctions have had a real impact, and they've helped to bring Iran to the negotiating table,'' Blake said, adding that the embargo has helped to dramatically reduce Iranian oil exports from a high of 2.5 million barrels to a range of between 1.2 million to 1.8 million barrels a day.

He did not of course specify how much of this 'impact' was borne by the average, already poor Irani citizen.

''It is just important to keep the pressure on Iran so that they will come and negotiate in good faith and continue again to work very closely with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Authority) and allow it access to all relevant facilities inside Iran,'' Blake said.