S. Korea, Japan in talks with US to avert damage from sanctions against Iran

Japan and South Korea, two major buyers of Iranian oil, are in talks with the US government in a bid to avoid adverse impacts from Washington’s reimposition of sanctions against Tehran. The US is demanding countries cut all imports of Iranian oil from November. Tokyo and Seoul won waivers that allowed them to buy limited amounts of oil from Iran during the previous round of sanctions that ended in 2016. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday that Tokyo and Washington were in talks about the sanctions on Iran, Reuters reported. “We are watching carefully the impact that the US measure would cause, and we would like to negotiate with countries involved including the US so as not to have an adverse impact on Japanese firms,” Suga said.