US allows India, China to buy Iran oil

India, China and Japan are among eight countries temporarily exempted from the US sanctions for buying Iranian oil as they showed significant reduction in oil purchase from the Persian Gulf country after the Trump administration reimposed crippling sanctions on Tehran, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday.

Pompeo vowed that the US will be "relentless" in pressuring Iran as he announced the list of the countries temporarily exempted from the sanctions during a press conference broadcast live.

Italy, Greece, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey also figure in the list released by Pompeo.

The US on Monday imposed "the toughest ever" sanctions on a defiant Iran aimed at altering the Iranian regime's "behaviour".

The sanctions cover Iran's banking and energy sectors and reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports.

While the US had previously wanted countries including India to completely halt oil purchases from Iran by November 4, it seems to have relented considering the havoc the move to completely take out Iranian supplies from the market would have had on prices. India meets more than 80 per cent of its oil needs through imports. Iran is its third-largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia and meets about 10 per cent of total needs.