India is yet to submit a request to the UN Security Council's sanctions committee seeking a special waiver to allow it to barter oil-for-wheat with Iraq, diplomats and officials at United Nations said. Officials said it may not be easy for India to get a waiver for import of 300,000 of barrels of oil per day in exchange for wheat under an agreement it signed with Iraq in November.

The committee will allow the deal only if India can prove that it has suffered enough hardship from sanctions placed on Iraq, they said. Some of the influential members do not believe that such a situation has come. Officials said it may not be easy for India to get a waiver for import of 300,000 of barrels of oil per day in exchange for wheat under an agreement it signed with Iraq in November.

The committee will allow the deal only if India can prove that it has suffered enough hardship from sanctions placed on Iraq, they said. Some of the influential members do not believe that such a situation has come. The council resolution which imposed sanctions on Iraq allows waiver to countries which are considered to have suffered economically due to the embargo imposed on Baghdad. So far, Jordan and Turkey have been granted waiver.
The resolution allows Iraq to sell oil to finance purchase of food, medicines and other essential commodities but under strict United Nations monitoring. The sanctions committee approved each contract for sale of oil as also import of goods by Iraq. The barter deal India signed was in addition to 20,000 barrels a day it imports under the oil-for-food programme. Bureau Report