India won't cut Iranian oil imports: Pranab Mukherjee

India: India, the world's fourth-largest oil consumer, will not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday during a visit to Chicago.

The United States wants buyers in Asia, Iran's biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran to rein in its nuclear ambitions. Washington suspects Iran of trying to make nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its nuclear program is for peaceful means.

India, which imports 12 per cent of its oil from the Islamic Republic, cannot do without Iranian oil, Mukherjee said.

It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce the imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide the requirement of the emerging economies, Iran is an important country amongst them, Mukherjee told reporters in Chicago at the end of a two-day visit aimed at wooing U.S. investment.

New U.S. sanctions, authorized on December 31 and which penalize any financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, could make it more difficult for India to pay Iran for oil imports.

The European Union banned oil imports from Iran earlier this month.