Regarding Significant Reductions of Iranian Crude Oil Purchases
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
June 11, 2012
Today
I have made the determination that seven economies—India, Malaysia,
Republic of Korea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan--have all
significantly reduced their volume of crude oil purchases from Iran.
They join the 11 countries for which I made this determination in March.
As a result, I will report to the Congress that sanctions pursuant to
Section 1245(d)(1) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2012 will not apply to their financial institutions for a
potentially renewable period of 180 days.
We have implemented
these sanctions to support our efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a
nuclear weapon and to encourage Iran to comply with its international
obligations. Today’s announcement underscores the success of our
sanctions implementation. By reducing Iran’s oil sales, we are sending a
decisive message to Iran’s leaders: until they take concrete actions to
satisfy the concerns of the international community, they will continue
to face increasing isolation and pressure.
The United States
remains committed to a dual-track policy that offers Iran the chance to
engage seriously with the international community to resolve our
concerns over its nuclear program through negotiations with the P5+1.
Iran has the ability to address these concerns by taking concrete steps
during the next round of talks in Moscow. I urge its leaders to do so.
