US to exempt EU, Japan on Iran sanctions

US: The United States said Tuesday it was exempting 11 nations including European Union members and Japan from tough new sanctions on Iran, praising them for reducing dependency on Tehran's oil.

Under a tough new law aimed at pressing Iran over its nuclear program, the United States plans to penalize foreign financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank, which generally handles oil purchases. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United States would exempt financial institutions from 11 nations -- Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

"The actions taken by these countries were not easy," Clinton said in a statement. "They had to rethink their energy needs at a critical time for the world economy and quickly begin to find alternatives to Iranian oil, which many had been reliant on for their energy needs," she said. AFP