US ‘highly gratified’ by cooperation from ‘great friend’ India on Iranian sanctions, say White House

The US is “highly gratified” by the cooperation from a “great friend” like India in enforcing the oil sanctions on Tehran, the White House said on Wednesday as the Trump administration slapped sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Tensions between the US and Iran have heightened after Washington last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal that aimed to curb Iranian nuclear activities. Washington has since reimposed crippling sanctions affecting the Iranian economy.

The US slapped sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif on Wednesday which will curtail his international travel and freeze his assets in America. “We have been highly gratified by cooperation from a great friend and partner like India, and even less well-aligned countries such as China, in making the rather obvious choice that the United States would be the business partner of choice, not Iran,” a senior official told reporters during a conference call.

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