TEHRAN, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- New Delhi paid off 40 percent of its debt to Iran for oil transferred on credit during the first part of the year, an Iranian banking official said.
The sides reached a payment impasse because of economic sanctions imposed on Iran. India has imported about 12 million barrels of oil per month from Iran, racking up a $5 billion credit to Tehran.
Kamal Ali, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran, said during the weekend that New Delhi had settled 40 percent of its debt, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.
Iran said it would cut oil supplies to India starting Aug. 1. Both sides had announced an agreement to settle the payment, though a source told Fars shortly after deadline that a license for deliveries of crude oil to India hadn't been issued.
Indian refiners said they were opening an account in the Union Bank of India to transfer payments based on the euro to Turkey's state-owned Halkbank in Istanbul.
U.S. officials following a July visit to New Delhi by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had suggested Washington would help India overcome the payment issue.
Iran is one of the largest suppliers of crude oil to India.
