solhkhabar | Peace International News Agency Peace International News Agency , Peace News , International Agency News of Peace
Japan had an exemption from the US and EU-led sanctions regime earlier in the decade, Hirota said Saturday in Baku, Azerbaijan.
'We continued to import about 170,000 b/d from Iran and now we continue to import from Iran at this level,' he told S&P Global Platts. 'We think to continue to get the exemption from the US to keep this amount of imports from Iran.'
'Japanese companies don't want to stop imports suddenly,' he said, adding the US position needed clarifying.
'The situation in the US government is drastically changing every day,' he said.
'Now we are collecting information and keep in touch with the US government.'
Iran's relatively low-cost crude accounts for around 5% of Japan's crude oil imports, and is valued by Japanese refiners partly because of its heavier quality, Hirota noted.
'We need to continue to keep imports, and to keep imports from Iran we need to get information and communication with the US government,' he said.
Following the announcement of Trump's decision to leave Iran nuclera deal, all the other signatories to the deal said that they will stay in it; and Iran stated that it will stay in the deal if it provides its expected results and interests.
9417**1771
Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish