The Obama administration announced Monday that it had exempted seven countries that are major consumers of Iranian oil from threatened U.S. sanctions aimed at punishing Tehran for its disputed nuclear program, LA Times reported.
Officials said India, South Korea, Turkey, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Africa and Sri Lanka had reduced their purchases of Iranian crude sufficiently to cut Tehran's exports without upsetting global oil prices.
In March, the Obama administration similarly exempted 10 European countries and Japan from sanctions, saying they too had done enough to wean themselves from Iranian energy.
U.S. officials said Iran now exports at least 700,000 barrels per day fewer than last year's exports of 2.5 million barrels a day, cutting into a crucial source of revenue. U.S. and European officials have sought to squeeze Iran's energy sector as part of the international campaign to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium that could be converted for use in nuclear weapons.
"We are sending a decisive message to Iran's leaders: Until they take concrete actions to satisfy the concerns of the international community, they will continue to face increasing isolation and pressure," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement on Monday.
Another round of Western sanctions is due to begin July 1, including an embargo on purchases of Iranian oil by all European Union members.
Although the tightening sanctions have hurt Iran's economy, Iranian negotiators have shown little sign in two rounds of international talks that they may slow down their nuclear development. Many countries believe Iran is enriching uranium so it can become capable of producing a nuclear bomb if it decides to do so. Iran maintains it is interested only in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Obama administration officials didn't say how much the seven countries had cut their oil purchases. In March, U.S. officials signaled that they were seeking reductions of 15% to 22% of purchases.
Several large countries, including India and Turkey, said publicly that they were reluctant to reduce imports of Iranian oil because of their long reliance on the Islamic regime. They appear to have met the minimum level of cooperation that Washington demanded, however.
Many of the countries have begun buying additional oil from Saudi Arabia to make up for their Iranian supplies.
The cutbacks by the seven nations haven't raised global oil prices, largely because of the economic slowdown in both Europe and China, as well as increased supply from several countries, including Iraq and Libya.
Two importers of Iranian oil that have not yet been granted exemptions are China and Singapore.
China, which alone buys as much as a fifth of Iran's crude exports, and Singapore, where much of the country's fuel oil is blended, did not receive such waivers, ramping up pressure on two important U.S. trade partners in Asia.
Although China did not immediately receive a waiver, it does not necessarily follow that the United States will impose sanctions on the country from June 28. A U.S. official said last week it would take some time for Washington to gather evidence to support punitive measures against banks that have processed oil transactions.
It was not immediately clear why the administration did not grant China an exemption. Backers of tough sanctions on Tehran believe China has received clandestine cargoes of oil from Iran, which has disabled tracking devices on some of its shipments.
Edited by: S. Isayev