White House now begging world, including India, to buy Russian oil: Iran Minister

Dubai: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said the US, despite "bullying India" to end Russian oil imports, is now begging them to buy crude from Moscow, two weeks after its war with Iran. "The US spent months on bullying India into ending oil imports from Russia," said Araghchi on Friday in a post on social media platform X. "After two weeks of war with Iran, White House is now begging the world — including India — to buy Russian crude," he added.

This comes after, on March 5, the US issued a 30-day waiver allowing India to buy Russian oil, having previously imposed heavy sanctions related to the war in Ukraine. Calling out Europe's stance on the conflict in West Asia, the minister termed the war on Iran "illegal" and said that Europe thought backing an illegal war on Iran would win US support against Russia.

He even termed the current stance of the Trump administration towards the purchase of Russian crude oil as "Pathetic". Starting February 28, the US and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran, which came after days of build-up with US President Donald Trump ramping up the pressure on Tehran to agree to a new deal on its nuclear programme. Iran's retaliation escalated the war to the entire Gulf region.