According to some reports, the U. S. government has offered its assistance to India for arranging for alternative oil supplies in order to convince Indian authorities to shun the ides of importing oil from Iran.

The US might held mediate deals with oil producers such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia for India to get additional oil supplies, according to people closer to the matter. Saudi Arabia has already offered to replace Iranian oil supplies.

Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman at the State Department in Washington said in a statement that the US government is in discussions with countries from around the world to reduce their dependence on oil imports from Iran.

The governments in Europe and the US are urging Asian countries to reduce oil imports from Iran so as to make their sanctions more effective in order to force Tehran to come clean on its nuclear programme. Iran is suspected of covertly developing nuclear weapons, a charge it denies and maintains that it has the right to harness civilian nuclear energy for generating power.

India’s union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee recently said that it wont be possible for the country to reduce oil imports from the country, which accounts for 12 per cent of its supply.