ID :
233960
Tue, 03/27/2012 - 15:44
Auther :

US to decide on curbs against nations importing Iranian oil

Washington, Mar 27 (PTI) The US will decide by June end whether to impose sanctions on 12 countries, including India and China, for purchasing Iranian crude oil despite American sanctions on Tehran, a State Department official said. "It is by the end of June the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, will make a determination on the sanctions," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday. The US is in conversation with these 12 countries on ways and means to avoid the American sanctions against them, she said. "We are still working with all of these countries and trying to do what we can to help them to reduce their dependence on Iranian oil. As you know, we have 180 days under this legislation, which takes us into the end of June," Nuland said. "We have 180 days in the legislation to make a determination one way or the other. So we're continuing to work with them in the intervening period," Nuland said responding to questions on the time line of the determinations against these 12 countries. In all, 23 countries import oil from Iran, and last week Clinton had announced that 11 of these nations – European and Japan – have been exempted from the Iranian sanctions act because of the significant reduction in their oil import. India imports about 12 per cent of its crude oil from Iran, which is the nation's second-largest supplier after Saudi Arabia. PTI

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