Japan eyes importing Iranian crude despite US sanctions

TEHRAN, Aug. 11 (MNA) – Deputy Prime Minister of Japan Tarō Asō pointed to the US oil sanctions on Iran and said that his country is willing to import Iranian crude despite sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran. He made the above remark in his meeting with the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Japan Morteza Rahmani Movahhed and said, “in its talks with the US government, Japanese government has emphasized on maintaining historical relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran and also continuing oil transaction with Iran significantly.” For this purpose, Japan’s Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko announced last week that his country will continue to negotiate with the US for an exemption to sanctions on Iranian oil imports. Japan’s oil import from Iran between Jan. and June 2018 hit 162,222 barrels of oil per day (bpd), showing a considerable 2.7 percent decline as compared to the same period of last year. Moreover, Japanese oil import from Iran in the first six months of the current year in 2018 accounted for 5.3 percent share of its total oil import volume. For his part, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Japan Morteza Rahmani Movahhed pointed to the progressing and depending bilateral relationship between Iran and Japan in the past four decades and said, “Iran attaches great importance to Japanese government and people.” He hailed the Japanese government for its support on Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and added, “economic activists of the two countries expect Iranian and Japanese governments to support bilateral trade and business ties.” In this bilateral meeting, the two sides placed their special emphasis on the significance of strengthening historical and economic relationship considerably.”