Industry and Energy

Home page

Industry and Energy

US exempts 7 countries from sanctions on Iran oil industry

12 June 2012 07:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA-Economics. Washington has exempted seven more countries from complying with its unilateral sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, APA reports citing BBC.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added India, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Taiwan, Turkey, and South Africa to the list of countries exempt from the sanctions on purchasers of Iranian crude oil, AFP reported.

In March, she made exemptions for 10 European Union countries and Japan. The waivers are subject to a potential renewal after 180 days.

However, China was not on the list announced in a statement by Clinton. Iran is one of the largest crude suppliers to the East Asian country.

Washington has imposed several rounds of unilateral sanctions on Iran and has exerted pressure on others to follow suit. But many countries have expressed reservations, with China and India at the forefront. The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program. Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and thus has the right to enrich uranium to produce fuel. And the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.