torchbearer
Lizard King
- Joined
- May 26, 2007
- Messages
- 38,926
http://www.debka.com/article/21673/
India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in
gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile's intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively.
Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one
million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million
bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets.
By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the
upcoming freeze on its central bank's assets and the oil embargo which the
European Union's foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan. 23. The EU
currently buys around 20 percent of Iran's oil exports.
The vast sums involved in these transactions are expected, furthermore, to
boost the price of gold and depress the value of the dollar on world
markets.
Iran's second largest customer after China, India purchases around
$12 billion a year's worth of Iranian crude, or about 12 percent of its
consumption. Delhi is to execute its transactions, according to our sources,
through two state-owned banks: the Calcutta-based UCO Bank, whose board of
directors is made up of Indian government and Reserve Bank of India
representatives; and Halk Bankasi (Peoples Bank), Turkey's seventh largest bank
which is owned by the government.
An Indian delegation visited Tehran last
week to discuss payment options in view of the new sanctions. The two sides were
reported to have agreed that payment for the oil purchased would be partly in
yen and partly in rupees. The switch to gold was kept dark.
India thus joins China in opting out of the US-led European sanctions against
Iran's international oil and financial business. Turkey announced publicly last
week that it would not adhere to any sanctions against Iran's nuclear program
unless they were imposed by the United Nations Security Council.
The EU
decision of Monday banned the signing of new oil contracts with Iran at once,
while phasing out existing transactions by July 1, 2012, when the European
embargo, like the measure enforced by the United States, becomes total. The
European foreign ministers also approved a freeze on the assets of the Central
Bank of Iran which handles all the country's oil transactions.
However, the
damage those sanctions cause the Iranian economy will be substantially cushioned
by the oil deals to be channeled through Turkish and Indian state banks. China
for its part has declared its opposition to sanctions against Iran.
debkafile's intelligence
sources disclose that Tehran has set up alternative financial mechanisms with
China and Russia for getting paid for its oil in currencies other than US
dollars. Both Beijing and Moscow are keeping the workings of those mechanisms
top secret.
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India is the first buyer of Iranian oil to agree to pay for its purchases in
gold instead of the US dollar, debkafile's intelligence and Iranian sources report exclusively.
Those sources expect China to follow suit. India and China take about one
million barrels per day, or 40 percent of Iran's total exports of 2.5 million
bpd. Both are superpowers in terms of gold assets.
By trading in gold, New Delhi and Beijing enable Tehran to bypass the
upcoming freeze on its central bank's assets and the oil embargo which the
European Union's foreign ministers agreed to impose Monday, Jan. 23. The EU
currently buys around 20 percent of Iran's oil exports.
The vast sums involved in these transactions are expected, furthermore, to
boost the price of gold and depress the value of the dollar on world
markets.
Iran's second largest customer after China, India purchases around
$12 billion a year's worth of Iranian crude, or about 12 percent of its
consumption. Delhi is to execute its transactions, according to our sources,
through two state-owned banks: the Calcutta-based UCO Bank, whose board of
directors is made up of Indian government and Reserve Bank of India
representatives; and Halk Bankasi (Peoples Bank), Turkey's seventh largest bank
which is owned by the government.
An Indian delegation visited Tehran last
week to discuss payment options in view of the new sanctions. The two sides were
reported to have agreed that payment for the oil purchased would be partly in
yen and partly in rupees. The switch to gold was kept dark.
India thus joins China in opting out of the US-led European sanctions against
Iran's international oil and financial business. Turkey announced publicly last
week that it would not adhere to any sanctions against Iran's nuclear program
unless they were imposed by the United Nations Security Council.
The EU
decision of Monday banned the signing of new oil contracts with Iran at once,
while phasing out existing transactions by July 1, 2012, when the European
embargo, like the measure enforced by the United States, becomes total. The
European foreign ministers also approved a freeze on the assets of the Central
Bank of Iran which handles all the country's oil transactions.
However, the
damage those sanctions cause the Iranian economy will be substantially cushioned
by the oil deals to be channeled through Turkish and Indian state banks. China
for its part has declared its opposition to sanctions against Iran.
debkafile's intelligence
sources disclose that Tehran has set up alternative financial mechanisms with
China and Russia for getting paid for its oil in currencies other than US
dollars. Both Beijing and Moscow are keeping the workings of those mechanisms
top secret.
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[TR]
[TD="align: center"]
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