Iran faced the prospect of cutbacks in its oil sales to China and Japan as new measures to block Tehran‘s crude exports over its nuclear program appeared to be driving its economy to the wall.
The developments in
Asia on Thursday followed news 24 hours earlier that EU leaders had
agreed to halt European purchases of Iranian crude.
China, Iran’s biggest trade partner, had already cut its purchases of Iranian oil by more than half this month and would extend the cuts to February, a Beijing-based trader who deals with Iranian oil said.
Japan would consider
cutbacks in its Iranian oil purchases to secure a waiver from new U.S.
sanctions signed into law on New Year’s Eve by President Barack Obama, a government source said.
Between them, China, the EU and Japan buy about half of Iran’s exports of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day.
