South Korea Gets US Exemption on Iran Oil Imports
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – South Korea has been granted a waiver from US sanctions on Iranian oil, a government official said on Monday.
South Korea, one of Asia's biggest buyers of Iranian oil, last week asked the US for "maximum flexibility" after some of its construction firms canceled energy-related contracts in the Islamic Republic because of financing difficulties, Reuters reported.
The United States said on Friday it would temporarily allow eight importers to keep buying Iranian oil after it reimposed sanctions on the country's crude flows from Monday.
Under US law, exceptions can be granted for up to 180 days.
"Petrochemicals are key to our economy, and we stressed that if we're hit by the Iran sanctions, it would pose grave challenges to our whole economy," the official said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Iran's biggest oil customers - all in Asia - have been seeking waivers to sanctions to allow them to continue buying some of the Islamic Republic's oil.
South Korea, the world's fifth-biggest buyer of crude oil, mainly purchases an ultra-light form from Iran known as condensate.
Seoul also won an exemption from the US to continue financial transactions with the sanctioned Iranian central bank to facilitate oil imports, the official said.
