US President Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that India had agreed to purchase Venezuelan oil instead of Iranian oil. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, en route to Florida from Washington, Trump welcomed China to do the same.
"We've already made a deal. India is coming in and they're going to be buying Venezuelan oil as opposed to buying it from Iran. We've already made a deal. We've already made that deal, the concept of the deal. But China's welcome to come in and buy oil," he said.
Trump's comment came a day after the United States informed India that it could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to offset its imports of Russian oil, according to a Reuters report.
Previously, Trump had imposed 25 per cent tariffs on countries, including India, purchasing Venezuelan oil in March last year. However, following the regime change in Venezuela and the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation, Trump now seems to be trying to offer Venezuelan crude to countries like India as part of a strategy to reduce oil revenues that are fueling Russia's war in Ukraine.
On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez and the two leaders agreed to take the bilateral relations to new heights in the years ahead.
"Spoke with Acting President of Venezuela, Ms. Delcy Rodriguez," the prime minister said in a post on X. "We agreed to further deepen and expand our bilateral partnership in all areas, with a shared vision of taking India-Venezuela relations to new heights in the years ahead," he said.
A statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the two leaders agreed to further expand and deepen the India-Venezuela partnership in all areas, including trade and investment, energy, digital technology, health, agriculture and people-to-people ties.
The statement, however, had no mention about the oil purchase deal.
Though the government has not yet responded to Trump's comments yet, the Opposition Congress took a swipe at the Centre, alleging that the US President appeared to be repeatedly revealing information about India's decisions.
"He told us Op Sindoor had been halted. He told us India had stopped buying Russian oil. And now this, " Ramesh said, referring to Trump's statements. President Trump continues to give us information on what our own Govt has done or will be doing," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.