US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a speech event on India Policy in New Delhi (Photo: AFP)

NEW DELHI: The US on Wednesday assured India that it is "doing everything" to ensure crude oil imports to New Delhi in the wake of the situation arising out of sanctions on importing oil from Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , during a policy speech here, said India has made "hard choices" to cut off oil imports from Iran.

"You have gone away from purchasing Venezuelan oil. Those decisions weren't without cost. We are doing everything we can to ensure you have crude imports . We appreciate your efforts in pushing these regimes to behave like normal countries," he said.

The issue of energy security was also discussed during talks between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his American counterpart Pompeo earlier in the day.

In the wake of the situation arising out of US sanctions on buying oil from Iran and the US-Iran tensions in the Persian Gulf , Jaishankar said: "We have a certain perspective on Iran. The secretary shared with me the American concerns on Iran...For us it is important that global energy supplies remain predictable. I think that is a concern that Secretary Pompeo was very very receptive."

On his part, Pompeo articulated American concerns over alleged state-sponsored terrorism by Iran, saying, "we also know that Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terror, and we know the Indian people, how they have suffered from terror around the world."

Pompeo also said: "I think there is a shared understanding of threat and a common purpose to ensure that we can keep energy at the right prices and deter this threat - not only the threat in the narrow confines of the Middle East, but the threat that this terror regime poses to the entire world."

As six-month-long exemptions from US sanctions to buy oil from Iran ended in May, India had said it will deal with the issue based on three factors -- the country's energy security, commercial consideration and economic interests.

In November, the US had granted a six-month waiver to India, China, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea to continue importing oil from Iran. The temporary waiver ended on May 2.

In May last year, the US had brought back sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal which was struck in 2015.

The US had told India and other countries to cut oil imports from the Gulf nation to "zero" by November 4 or face sanctions. However, Washington had granted a six-month waiver from sanctions to eight countries, including India.