Iran’s foreign minister Javed Zarif said that in the long scheme of things nothing can break the Islamic Republic’s “civilisational ties” with India. Trump last year unilaterally quit an international nuclear pact with Iran aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme and re-imposed sanctions lifted under the 2015 accord. India stopped buying Iranian oil this May when a temporary US waiver on implementing the sanctions expired. Iran has been under virtually constant sanctions since the 1979 revolution which toppled the Western-allied Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and created the Islamic Republic. Still, Zafir said sanctions had forced Iran to be self-reliant in developing weaponry, machinery and medicines.

Source: The Telegraph November 18, 2019 09:45 UTC