Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India's ambassador to the United States, told reporters that India had completely stopped buying crude oil from Iran in May.

He said that India's imports of crude oil from Iran had dropped to 1 million tons by April of this year.

The Indian Press Trust quoted Slingra as saying that stopping imports of Iranian crude oil had a significant impact on India because New Delhi was forced to find alternative sources of energy.

In July 2015, Iran and the six countries on the Iranian nuclear issue (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) reached the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (the Iranian Nuclear Agreement). According to the agreement, Iran undertakes to limit its nuclear program, but enjoys the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy, while the international community should lift the sanctions imposed on Iran.

After withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear agreement in May 2018, the United States announced the resumption of sanctions against Iran in two stages. The first phase of sanctions came into effect on August 6, targeting Iran's automotive industry and trade in important metals such as gold. The second phase of sanctions came into effect on November 5. For Iran's energy industry, Oil Trade and the foreign settlement business of the Iraqi Central Bank, countries operating with Iran face secondary sanctions from the United States. The United States has granted 180-day temporary exemptions to eight Iranian crude oil importing countries and regions, namely China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, which means that the above-mentioned countries will enjoy exemptions by May 2, 2019.

The White House said on April 22, 2019 that US President Trump had decided not to extend the exemption period for sub-sanctions against Iran, which would end in early May. The White House also said the decision was aimed at reducing Iranian crude oil exports to zero.