Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton wants India, along with China, to help Donald Trump get out of the war with Iran as, according to her, the two countries buy most oil and gas from Tehran.
US President Donald Trump began the war with Iran on February 28, and the conflict that has sent oil prices soaring and the world economy into doldrums is about to complete six months. The sanctions, announced on August 24, are part of US President Donald Trump’s ‘Operation Economic Outcast’ or ‘economic D-day’, an effort to seemingly cut off Iran’s lifelines. India has urged both sides to observe restraint and resolve the issue through diplomacy. Deputy defence minister for industrial and research affairs, Seyyed Mahdi Farahi, was targeted for his role in weapons procurement. Reza Talaei-Nik, spokesperson for Iran’s defence ministry, was also sanctioned. The US has also sanctioned an Iranian cyber group accused of hacking US critical infrastructure.
Speaking to C-SPAN, Clinton said the key to opening the Strait of Hormuz lay with China and India. Pigott said this was coordinated with the FBI, which last week charged eight Iranian nationals over cyberattacks on US energy companies, defence firms, hospitals and government offices. The US said the money from these sales helped fund Iran’s IRGC and other groups linked to the Iranian government. Iran’s Parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the US did not have the economic strength to restrict Iran’s ties with other countries.
