Trump makes fresh claim on India’s oil strategy
US President Donald Trump has claimed that India will purchase crude oil from Venezuela instead of Iran, asserting that a deal has already been put in place to shift New Delhi’s energy sourcing.
Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday as he travelled from Washington, DC, to Florida. He said India would turn to Venezuelan oil rather than Iranian supplies, adding that the arrangement was part of a broader understanding brokered by the United States.
India currently does not import significant quantities of Iranian crude due to long-standing US sanctions, although Iran was once among India’s major oil suppliers before restrictions came into force.
Trump has repeatedly criticised India’s oil import strategy, particularly its purchases of Russian crude, and has imposed tariffs on Indian imports over the issue — a move India has described as unjustified.
Meanwhile, India and Venezuela have recently renewed high-level engagement. Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss expanding bilateral cooperation across energy, trade, investment, technology, health, agriculture and people-to-people ties. Both sides expressed interest in deepening the partnership and taking bilateral relations to a new level in the coming years.
As of now, there has been no official statement from the Indian government confirming any agreement to buy Venezuelan oil, and India’s energy policy continues to emphasise diversification and strategic autonomy in a volatile global market.
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