Fourth Estate Cooperative Staff
Washington, United States (4E) - Just hours before sanctions would have come into force, the United States on Thursday exempted China and Singapore from Iran sanctions.
In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that both the countries had significantly reduced their purchases of crude oil from the Islamic nation and have been granted exemptions under the new U.S. law.
Under the law, the U.S. would target financial institutions of countries, which deal with Iran's central bank in order to press Iran to give up its ambitious nuclear drive.
Clinton said that the sanctions' threat and nations' decision to cut Iranian oil exports would cost $8 billion of loss to Iran every quarter. "Their cumulative actions are a clear demonstration to Iran's government that Iran's continued violation of its international nuclear obligations carries an enormous economic cost," she added.
"I urge Iran to demonstrate its willingness to take concrete steps toward resolving the nuclear issue during the expert-level talks scheduled in Istanbul on Tuesday. Failure to do so will result in continuing pressure and isolation from the international community," Clinton said in the statement.
The countries, which are exempted from U.S. sanctions, are India, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan, Japan and the member nations of 27-nation European bloc.
