Ecuador will purchase USD 400 million worth of oil from Iran in defiance of the European Union sanctions on the Islamic Republic that came into effect on July 1, Press TV reported.
The Central Bank of Ecuador's President Pedro Delgado said that the purchase is under negotiation, asserting that Quito is free to decide on choosing its trade partners, IRNA reported on Friday.
"Ecuador is a sovereign nation and can have relations with any country in the world," he told reporters in the capital.
In January, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went to Ecuador on the last leg of a four-nation tour of Latin America, during which he also met and held talks with the leaders and senior officials of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.
In March, the US administration approved new embargoes on Iranian crude that penalize other countries for buying or selling Iran's oil. The sanctions took effect on June 28.
On July 1, under the US pressure, the EU imposed a new round of sanctions on the Islamic Republic's oil and banking sectors, which had been approved by the bloc's foreign ministers on January 23.