US prepared to engage with Iran if it behaves like 'normal nation': Pompeo

The United States was prepared to engage with Iran without pre-conditions about its nuclear program but needed to see the country behaving like "a normal nation", US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani suggested on Saturday that Iran may be willing to hold talks if Washington showed it respect, but said Tehran would not be pressured into talks.

In an apparent softening of his previous stance, Pompeo said when asked about Rouhani's remarks: "We are prepared ... to engage in conversations with no pre-conditions, we are ready to sit down."
However, he said Washington would continue to work to "reverse the malign activity" of Iran in the Middle East.
Pompeo said U.S. President Donald Trump had been saying for a long time that he was willing to talk to Iran.
"We are certainly prepared to have that conversation when the Iranians can prove that they want to behave like a normal nation," Pompeo said at a joint news conference with his Swiss counterpart in the southern Swiss city of Bellinzona.
Trump said last Monday he was hopeful Iran would come to the negotiating table. But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Tehran would not negotiate with Washington, even after Rouhani had previously signalled talks might be possible if sanctions were lifted.
Last year, Pompeo outlined 12 ways Iran must change including stopping its support for proxy groups and halting its missile program before the United States lifts sanctions.
He also called on Iran to stop uranium enrichment, never to pursue plutonium reprocessing and to close its heavy water reactor. He said it also had to declare all previous military dimensions of its nuclear program and to permanently and verifiably abandon such work.

Iran sanctions: US exempts India from some restrictions for Chabahar port

The United States has exempted India from imposition of certain sanctions for the development of the strategically-located Chabahar port in Iran, along with the construction of the railway line connecting it with Afghanistan.
The decision by the Trump administration, which a day earlier imposed the toughest ever sanctions on Iran and is very restrictive in giving exemptions, is a seen as a recognition by Washington of India's role in development of the port on the Gulf of Oman, which is of immense strategic importance for the development of war-torn Afghanistan.

"After extensive consideration, the Secretary (of State) has provided for an exception from imposition of certain sanctions under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012, with respect to the development of Chabahar port, construction of an associated railway and for shipment of non-sanctionable goods through the port for Afghanistan's use, as well as the country's continued imports of Iranian petroleum products," a State Department spokesperson told PTI.
The US on Monday imposed "the toughest ever" sanctions on a defiant Iran aimed at altering the Iranian regime's "behaviour". The sanctions cover Iran's banking and energy sectors and reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports.
However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that eight countries -- India, China, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey -- were temporarily allowed to continue buying Iranian oil as they showed "significant reduction" in oil purchase from the Persian Gulf country.
To a question on the fate of Chabahar port after the US reimposed all its sanctions on Iran, the spokesperson said, "This exception relates to reconstruction assistance and economic development for Afghanistan. These activities are vital for the ongoing support of Afghanistan's growth and humanitarian relief." In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan had inked a pact which entailed establishment of Transit and Transport Corridor among the three countries using Chabahar Port as one of the regional hubs for sea transportation in Iran, besides multi-modal transport of goods and passengers across the three nations.
Pompeo's decision to give India exemption from imposition of certain sanctions for the development of the port is driven by the South Asian strategy, which was announced by President Donald Trump in August. It states that India has a major role in bringing peace and development in Afghanistan.
"The president's South Asia strategy underscores our ongoing support of Afghanistan's economic growth and development as well as our close partnership with India," the state department spokesperson said.
"We seek to build on our close relationships with both the countries as we execute a policy of maximum pressure to change the Iranian regime's destabilising policies in the region and beyond," the spokesperson added.

US allows India, 7 other nations to buy oil from Iran even after sanctions

The United States said on Friday it would temporarily allow eight importers to keep buying Iranian oil when it reimposes sanctions on Monday to try to force Iran to curb its nuclear, missile and regional activities.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who announced the decision, did not name the eight, which he referred to as “jurisdictions”, a term that might include importers such as Taiwan, which the United States does not regard as a country. However, he said the European Union as a whole, which has 28 members, would not receive a waiver.
Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said Turkey had been told it would be granted a waiver. India, Iraq and South Korea were also on the list, said a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Under US law, such exceptions can only be granted for up to 180 days.
ALSO READ: Iran oil sanctions waiver: Indian refiners get breather, payment a concern
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said Washington had told the Brussels-based SWIFT financial messaging service that it was expected to disconnect all Iranian financial institutions that the United States plans to blacklist as of Monday. He declined to name the targeted institutions.
The restoration of sanctions is part of a wider effort by US President Donald Trump to force Iran to curb its nuclear and missile programs as well as its support for proxy forces in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East.
Trump set in motion the resumption of sanctions on May 8, when he announced U.S. withdrawal from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers under which Tehran had agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for relief from sanctions.

ALSO READ: US to let 8 'jurisdictions' continue buying Iran oil after Nov 5 sanctions
"This part of the campaign is aimed at depriving the regime of the revenues it uses to spread death and destruction around the world, Pompeo said. "Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented outlier activities and behave as a normal country."
Pompeo said Washington will issue temporary waivers to the eight Iran oil importers "only because they have demonstrated significant reductions in their crude oil and cooperation on many other fronts".
Two would stop imports and the other six would greatly reduce them, Pompeo said.
ALSO READ: Oil sees weekly loss of over 6% as US waives Iran sanctions on 8 countries
Iran said it was not troubled over the re-imposition of US sanctions, which target not only its vital oil and gas sector but also shipping, ship-building and banking industries.
"America will not be able to carry out any measure against our great and brave nation ... We have the knowledge and the capability to manage the country's economic affairs," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told state TV.
The United States believes global oil supplies will exceed demand next year, making it easier for countries to cut Iranian oil imports to zero, a senior U.S. official told reporters.
Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, also said Saudi Arabia had been "very helpful" in bolstering oil supplies while the United States moved to reimpose sanctions.

Prankster calls US President Donald Trump, White House puts him through

The president of the United States, one of the most protected people on the planet and among the least accessible to the public, would seem to be a long-shot target for a prank caller looking to have some fun.
But President Trump, who likes to field his own telephone calls and prefers spontaneity to protocol, is a different breed. So on Wednesday, when a radio shock jock and comedian dialled the White House switchboard impersonating a United States senator’s aide, he found himself — in between barely suppressed giggles and off-colour jokes with his producer — patched through to Trump on Air Force One.
The result was an impromptu six-minute conversation on immigration and the Supreme Court between the president and the radio host and comedian John Melendez, known to his listeners as “Stuttering John”.
“Are you ready for the call?” a White House mobile communications officer asked Melendez before connecting him with Trump. He was.
As far as Trump knew, he was taking a call from Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, who seemed to have an urgent legislative matter he wanted to raise.
“Congratulations on everything — we’re proud of you,” Trump said by way of a greeting, apparently alluding to the real Menendez’s recent acquittal on corruption charges and a subsequent decision by the Justice Department not to pursue additional ones. “You went through a tough, tough situation, and I don’t think a very fair situation.”
He was actually speaking with Melendez, who had called the White House switchboard, affected a British accent and identified himself as Sean Moore (“S-E-A-N, as in Sean Connery, and Moore, as in Roger Moore”), an aide to Menendez who, he claimed, badly needed to speak to Trump.
White House officials did not respond on Friday to requests for comment on how the prankster had been allowed to get through to the president. But Melendez’s profanity-laced podcast indicates that the process was surprisingly easy.
The White House operator can be heard telling Melendez that the president was in Fargo, North Dakota, and unreachable. But when Melendez insisted that Trump had said he would speak to Menendez, the operator, somewhat reluctantly, said she would try to connect him.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” the operator said with a heavy sigh. She suggested she would contact Trump’s assistant, but then decided to try to transmit the call “through signal,” a reference to the White House Communications Agency, originally known as the White House Signal Corps, which provides emergency mobile communications for the president wherever he goes.
The next audible voice is the signal officer, who can be heard telling Melendez that the president was onstage at his rally in Fargo, and would have to call back.
When he was a private citizen, Trump frequently called in to the shock jock Howard Stern’s bawdy radio programme — the same one that made Stuttering John, Stern’s sidekick on the show for more than 15 years, famous — and engaged in salty banter. But Melendez was plainly shocked at the president’s willingness to take his call in this case.
“I don’t even think they’re going to call me,” Melendez told his producer at one point, as he waited for the call from Trump.
The White House operator did call Melendez back at one point to verify that he was who he said he was, asking whether he was calling from a cellphone and why it appeared to be from a California area code. Posing as Moore, the senator’s aide, Melendez said he was on vacation.
Later, Melendez said that he received a call from Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, arranging a callback time for him and the president and asking what topic he would like to raise with Trump.
When a mobile communications officer did call back and put Trump on the line, Melendez played the part of the senator, although his voice sounded nothing like Menendez’s. But he barrelled forward as he engaged Trump in a discussion about what he should say to his constituents in New Jersey about the Trump administration’s immigration policies that have led to migrant families being separated at the southwestern border.
“What could I tell them that you’re going to do in moving forward?” Melendez asked. Trump responded, as he has before, that he would like to pass a broad immigration bill, which he said would be good for both parties. “I’d like to do the larger solution, rather than the smaller solution,” Trump said. “We have to have security at the border — we have to have that.”

Melendez then raised the retirement of Justice Anthony M Kennedy from the Supreme Court, and asked whether Trump would consider naming a moderate rather that a conservative.
“I have a big list of people, Bob, and we’re going to take a look at it,” Trump replied, adding that he hoped to make a selection in 12 to 14 days. On Friday, he confirmed that timetable publicly and told reporters to expect an announcement on July 9.
The prank did not become public until Thursday afternoon, after Melendez posted the news on Twitter. “Tune into my new Podcast where I prank call the President & he calls me from Air Force One!” Melendez wrote. A short time later he tweeted out the audio. Neither tweet got much traction at first, which frustrated Melendez.
“I find it astounding that the news media’s not picking up the fact that I totally duped the President & got in touch” with him “in less than 2 hours while he was on Air Force One,” Melendez wrote Thursday night.
The Daily Mail finally noticed on Friday, followed quickly by BuzzFeed News, and soon enough the story had generated a chyron on CNN: “Who’s Calling?”

India hits back at US with higher import duties on farm, steel products

India increased duties on a slew of farm products, steel and iron imported from the United States, a government notice said, joining the European Union and China in retaliatory action against President Donald Trump's tariff hikes on steel and aluminium.
India's move came a day after the EU's decision to charge higher import duties on a range of US products.

In tariff rates issued late on Wednesday, India's commerce ministry named some varieties of apples, almonds, chickpeas, lentils, walnuts and artemia that would carry higher import taxes. Most of these are purchased from the United States.
India also raised duties on some grades of iron and steel products. Last month, India launched a complaint at the World Trade Organisation against the United States over the steel and aluminium duties after it failed to win an exemption.
It also gave a list of products to the WTO that it said could incur higher tariffs.
An official from the steel ministry said at the time that the new tariffs were intended to show displeasure at the US action. Some of the new Indian rates will take effect immediately while the others would go into force on August 4.
Rising trade tensions between the United States and some major economies have threatened to derail global growth.
China on Thursday warned that the interests of US workers and farmers will be hurt by Washington's intent to impose higher tariffs on some imported products.

India rejects US request on price caps on medical devices like stents

India has told the United States it won't abstain from capping prices for more medical devices, regardless of pressure to rethink its stance after price controls on heart stents and knee implants spoilt the market for some US firms, sources familiar with the matter said.

India's drug pricing authority is also pushing to bring three more devices used while treating heart ailments under the ambit of price controls as they are sometimes more expensive than the stent itself, showed a government letter reviewed by Reuters.

India's $5 billion medical device market has provided rich fishing grounds for US-based companies like Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp, but the prospect of price caps being extended to more products sent shivers through their ranks.
In September, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office and Trade Minister Suresh Prabhu urging them "to not expand price controls to additional medical devices", according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
During a meeting last month, Indian officials told USTR Assistant Trade Representative Mark Linscott that India had decided against making any such commitment, a trade ministry official told Reuters on Tuesday.
"This position will not change, it is within the right of the government of India (to impose price caps)," said the official, who declined to be named.
Linscott "expressed concerns" with India's stance during the meeting, another Indian trade official said.
A USTR spokesperson declined to comment for this article, and Modi's office did not respond to Reuters' queries.
Price controls form part of Modi's broader agenda to improve India's dilapidated public health system and boost affordability of treatment.
Equating high trade margins on some medical devices with "illegal profiteering", the government last year capped prices of some high-end heart stents — small wire-mesh structures used to treat blocked arteries — at around $450, compared to $3,000 charged earlier.
During a visit to Britain last month, Modi himself extolled the price caps' success in making treatment much more affordable for Indians.
And India's National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has been pushing for more price controls.
The regulator wrote to the health ministry on February 26, asking for three other devices used to treat heart ailments — cardiac balloons, catheters and guide-wire — to be added to a list of products eligible for price controls.
In the letter, the NPPA described the prices charged for these products as "exorbitant", and said companies involved in bringing them to the market were enjoying high trade margins.
"Because of these exorbitant prices of catheter and balloon, which are many times higher than the stent price itself, the objective of price capping of stents gets diluted," the NPPA said in its letter.
The NPPA also said intraocular lenses, which are used during eye surgery, should be brought under the list.
A senior health ministry official told Reuters that the NPPA's requests merited "consideration".
The medical device manufacturers argue that India's price control mechanism hurts innovation, profits and future investment, and the USTR described India's policy as "very troubling".
Indian trade officials anticipate coming under more pressure from the United States.
The USTR is currently reviewing India's eligibility under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a programme that allows duty-free imports of certain goods. India was the largest GSP beneficiary at $5.6 billion, the USTR said in April.
Bilateral trade rose to $115 billion in 2016, but the United States wants to reduce its $31 billion deficit with India, and is pressing New Delhi to ease trade barriers.

US govt shutdown: No flights from India to America cancelled, say sources

Despite the ripple effect of the United States shutdown across the world, no flights from India to America had been cancelled, according to sources.
Though travellers were not impacted immediately, industry players said that if the government shutdown was prolonged, it would have an effect in the near future.

"The US government shutdown will have no impact on those travelling from India. Airlines are functioning as per their schedules, the air traffic control, immigration and customs services which are deemed as essential services are not covered by the shutdown," said Karan Anand, Head of Relationships at Cox & Kings.
"The government shutdown could impact travellers planning a trip to the US in the foreseeable future," said Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C) at Yatra.com, adding that "while there will be a minuscule impact on air traffic controllers, visa processing will certainly face some delay. Also, passport processing for the US citizens visiting India or other foreign nations might also get delayed."
The US government began shutting down on Saturday, putting thousands of workers on unpaid leave after the Senate failed to pass a stopgap budget.
Air India has not cancelled or postponed any flights to the US, a source familiar with the matter said.
Air India flies to four US cities daily -- San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and New York, In New York, it flies to two airports Newark and John F. Kennedy.
The shutdown marked the first anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration.
It is the first shutdown in US history to happen while the same ruling party controlled both House of Congress and the Senate.
Despite last-minute bipartisan meetings, the bill to fund the government until February 16, did not receive the required number of 60 votes in the Senate.
The budget proposal presented by the Republicans on Friday night got more votes in favour (50) than against (48), but they were insufficient to approve funds. Four Republicans voted against the bill while five Democrats broke rank to support it.

US jury indicts Indian promoters

A grand jury in the United States has indicted promoters of an Indian listed company for alleged financial irregularities. The jury of a district court in Seattle has confirmed various charges brought against Madhavi Vuppalpati and her brother Satish Vuppalpati, promoters Hyderabad-based IT company Prithvi Information Solutions by a US-based financial service provider Kyko Global. Two other employees of Prithvi have also been indicted.
An indictment order dated December 13 said the grand jury charged “Together with their conspirators, Madhavi and Satish Vuppalpati orchestrated a factoring fraud scheme that resulted in millions of dollars of loss to a company called Kyko Global.”
In response to an email seeking comments sent to the siblings, Madhavi Vuppalpati said, “We have not received any official notification from anyone so far. So, we are unable to comment on your story.”

Kiran Kulkarni, CEO, KYKO told Business Standard,“The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice acted swiftly and within three years, obtained indictments by the Grand Jury in Washington against the two (as well as two others) and arrest warrants have been issued. The US government has taken charge of this matter and extradition proceedings have commenced.”
In contrast, Kulkarni added that several complaints to Indian authorities are still awaiting action. Serious Frauds Investigation Office of India had acknowledged the receipt of a complaint of identity theft by one of the victims. The scheme was brought to the attention of the authorities in India, including the BSE and SEBI, CBI and RBI. The RBI referred this matter to Directorate of Enforcement in September 2016. Over the past 7-8 years, various criminal complaints were filed by Sojitz, Deutsche Bank, HSBC etc against Prithvi and the Vuppalapati duo but not much moved.
Kyko had alleged that Prithvi had floated several sham companies to create fake invoices in its favour and had encashed these using factoring service provided by Kyko.
Sojitz Corporation (Japan), Kyko Global (Canada and Bahamas), Deutsche Bank (India), HSBC (Bank India) and Huawei (Brazil).
Through late 2011 and early 2012, Prithvi represented that it had substantial relationships with several multi-billion dollar US customers and offered for factoring. The receivables were from five companies namely Dick’s Sporting Goods – a publicly listed national retailer with over 600 stores and revenues that year of $5.8 billion, Enterprise Product Partners – a publicly listed energy asset company with revenues that year of $42 billion; Financial Oxygen – a provider of technology for the financial services industry, Huawei – a global networking and telecommunications equipment company with revenues that year of $35 billion; and L3 Communications – a publicly listed defence contractor with sales that year of $13 billion.
The factoring relationship started whereby these customers would confirm each invoice from Prithvi, Kyko would advance the funds to Prithvi for each such invoice, and the customer would pay Kyko directly when the invoice came due - This cycle continued regularly until February, 2013, when the payments to Kyko stopped. As of May, 2013, the balance owed to Kyko by these customers was $47 million, and the balance owed to Prithvi by Kyko was $30million, for a net amount owing
to Kyko of $17.07 million.
When the payments ceased, Kyko investigated and realized that the relationships with these five customers were entirely fictitious involving sham invoices billed to sham customers. Prithvi had allegedly incorporated sham entities, set up bank accounts in these fake companies’ names, fake URLs for email addresses, all in an effort to allegedly deceive Kyko.
The shares of Prithvi have been suspended due to penal reasons as the company has not made mandatory filings since 2015.