Japan, historically one of Iran's largest trading partners, has cut its oil imports from the Islamic Republic by 40% in five years, a Japanese official said Thursday, underscoring the impact of international sanctions against Tehran.
Japan, historically one of Iran's largest trading partners, has cut its
oil imports from the Islamic Republic by 40% in five years, a Japanese official
said Thursday, underscoring the impact of international sanctions against
Tehran.
Asked about
Japan
's
Iranian oil imports, Yutaka Yokoi, a Japanese foreign ministry official, said
they are getting "smaller...We have reduced imports over five years by 40%
from
Iran
because of
U.S.
sanctions."
Last year,
Washington
banned oil transactions with
Iran
's
Central Bank as part of a broad range of existing sanctions to pressure
Iran
over
its nuclear program. The move forced
Iran
's
Asian oil buyers to cut their purchases in exchange for an exemption permitting
dealings with the Bank.
Tehran
's sales to
Asia
--its
last major market following the
U.S.
and
European Union embargoes--have also been hit by an EU insurance ban on Iranian
oil shipping and international sanctions on
Iran
's
commercial banking sector.
Independent experts and Iranian lawmakers say oil exports have been more than
halved to about 1 million barrels a day at present from at least 2.2 million
barrels a day early 2012.
Mr. Yokoi, who was speaking during a briefing on the Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's visit to the
United
Arab Emirates
and
Saudi
Arabia
, said more than 80% of
Japan
's oil
imports are from the
Middle East
, but that it had switched
some of its supply from
Iran
to
Saudi
Arabia
and the U.A.E.
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