Won't follow US trade curbs on Iran, says Sushma Swaraj

It is our clear stand that we abide by UN sanctions, not country-specific sanctions, said Swaraj

India on Monday said it has not abided by the US sanctions on Iran or Venezuela in the past, neither will it this time.

Addressing her ministry’s annual press conference here, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj indicated India-Iran trade will continue, as it did the last time the US imposed sanctions on Tehran, and that India will also continue to trade with Venezuela.

She said a mechanism for India-Iran trade will soon be worked out, but it will not be in cryptocurrency since the Reserve Bank of India has banned the currency.

Amid the US plan to scrap a rule allowing spouses of H1B visa holders to work legally in the country, Swaraj said the government would make all efforts to persuade the Trump Administration against such a move.

On a question on US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, Swaraj said: “It is our clear stand that we abide by UN sanctions, not country-specific sanctions. India-Iran trade had continued the last time as well.”

The minister added that she was scheduled to meet the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The Iranian foreign minister was on a day-long visit to New Delhi on Monday and met Swaraj in the evening. She said Iran is yet to make any proposal to set up its banks in India.

To a question on whether India might toe the American line on the US-Iran nuclear deal, Swaraj said the Narendra Modi government’s foreign policy wasn’t framed either under pressure of a foreign country, or out of love for a foreign country, or in reaction to another country.

Swaraj spoke on a host of issues, including on talks with Pakistan. She said New Delhi was willing to have talks with Pakistan, even before the general elections in that country, but the only “caveat” is that a “comprehensive bilateral dialogue” cannot take place until Islamabad stops exporting terror to India. She said all other dialogue mechanisms with Pakistan, including that of the respective National Security Advisors, will continue.

On H1B visas, Swaraj said her ministry has launched a three-pronged effort to convince the Trump administration to not end the Obama-era rule under which spouses of H1B visa holders are given work permit or H-4 visa.

“We are talking to the White House, we are talking to the Department of State, and we are also talking to Congressmen and Senators,” Swaraj said. She said the ministry’s efforts have yielded results as 130 Congressmen and Senators have written a letter to Trump asking him not to revoke H-4 visas, stating that the American economy will suffer. The revocation of H-4 visas could affect more than 70,000 such visa holders, many of whom are high-skilled professionals from India.

Swaraj said her ministry’s successes in the last four years include ensuring a ministerial visit to 186 of 192 countries in the world, and ministerial visits were in the works to the other six, including to Iceland. She said 227 new passport issuing centres have been opened in the last four years and foreign policy made accessible in Indian languages. Swaraj said there were only 77 passport issuing centers in 2014.

Swaraj said her ministry’s efforts have meant a 43 per cent increase in foreign direct investment in India. She said in the four-year period of the Modi government $209.83 billion have been invested in India. The minister said the “new mechanism” of informal summits with China, Russia and also Germany has been successful. She said Prime Minister Modi’s informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping achieved its objective of increasing mutual trust.