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India has a back-up plan to cope with a halt to crude supplies from Iran, its oil minister said, as Tehran upped the ante in an oil payments row and Indian refiners rushed to secure alternative supplies, including from Saudi Arabia.

Since December, India and Iran have struggled to find ways for New Delhi to pay for imports of 400,000 barrels per day, 12 percent of its oil demand, after the Reserve Bank of India halted a clearing mechanism under U.S. pressure.

That move won praise from Washington, which is using sanctions in a bid to get Tehran to halt its nuclear programme.