US hails India for cutting off oil imports from Iran

New Delhi, June 26 (IANS) US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Wednesday hailed India for cutting off oil imports from Iran and desisting from buying petroleum products from Venezuela and promised to ensure that adequate crude is made available to the energy-hungry country.

Delivering a lecture here, he hailed India's "assertiveness" in the international matters and pitched for a "new kind" of bilateral cooperation, leaving behind the "nagging misconceptions" and "distrust" witnessed in the earlier era which "still lingers".

Pompeo, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar earlier in the day, said the two sides spoke about "new age of ambitions of our proud nations".

He emphasized that the two countries should not "see each other from the narrow bilateral lens", but look at the world as it is.

"We have the ability to forge a new kind of cooperation that won't be good only for us, for the region but for the entire world," the Secretary of State said in the lecture on "India-US policy'.

"There's a nagging misconception. The distrust of earlier era still lingers. But that is not true. Just look at what has already happened. You have made hard choices to cut off oil imports from Iran and move away from purchasing Venezuelan oil," he said.

He was referring to the decision taken by the Indian oil companies after the US withdrew in May its waiver granted to them for importing oil from Iran.

"We know these decisions weren't without cost. We are doing everything we can to ensure you have adequate crude imports," Pompeo assured.

"We appreciate that you have been pushing these countries to behave and see that Venezuela takes care of its people," he added.