Japan asked the United States to exempt its banks from new Washington-led sanctions on Iran which ban financial institutions from doing business with Iran's central bank.
The request was made to a visiting U.S. delegation on Thursday led by special advisor on nonproliferation and arms control, Robert Einhorn in Tokyo.
Japanese officials asked the U.S. delegation to apply the new law "flexibly" by taking into account the negative affects last year's twin disasters in March had on Tokyo's economy while assuring that it will continue to reduce its imports of oil from Iran.
Einhorn's delegation responded that the Obama administration will try to avoid hurting Japan’s economy in implementing the law.
Washington has said that it may grant a country a waiver to the sanctions if it has "significantly reduced its volume of crude oil purchases from Iran."

Reporter : julz1201@arirangtv.com