Virtually putting India and 11 others countries on notice, the US has asked them to significantly reduce by June 28 the purchase of Iranian oil to avoid sanctions, as it announced a list of nations that will be exempted from the curbs.
Secretary of state Hill-ary Clinton on Tuesday night anno-unced that 11 countries, mostly from Europe, would not be subject to US sanctions regarding Iran. Japan is the only Asian country among the nations exempted from the sanctions. A state department official urged 12 other countries, including Ind-ia, China and South Korea, to follow the example of those exempted.
Citing the case of Jap-an, which has decreased its import of Iranian crude oil between 15 to 22 percent, the official told reporters that this exception app-lies only to countries that have significantly redu-ced the volume of crude purchase from Iran.
“If you look at open-source data in the last half of 2011, even after that tragedy (Fukushima nuclear disaster following a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan)... They reduced on seasonally-adjusted terms betw-een 15 and 22 per cent.
“That gives some indication and again, with the EU, they have gotten to zero. So we look forward to hearing from countries what their views are on what they can do,” the official said.
Besides Japan, the cou-ntries exempted are Belg-ium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Gre-ece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK.