US rules out sanction relief to countries from Iranian oil import

The US has ruled out giving any exemption from its punitive sanctions to countries, including India, for buying oil from Iran, saying America's maximum pressure campaign was working and the Trump administration remains "unwavering" in its tough policy on Tehran.

US President Donald Trump last month refused to give waivers to countries like India from buying oil from Iran, in an attempt to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero.

The US on Tuesday reiterated its position at a news conference in Washington after media reports from New Delhi, quoting unnamed government officials, said that India was looking at ways to resume oil imports from Iran despite the US sanctions.

Last week, India's Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India had stopped buying oil from Iran after May 2 when the US ended its waivers that allowed the top buyers of Iranian oil, including India, to continue their imports for six months.

The State Department said there was no change in its policy on Iranian sanctions.

"The Secretary (of State) has been very clear since April 22nd that we are going to zero," Spokesperson of the State Department Morgan Ortagus told reporters during an off-camera news conference.

"We have stated that there are no new exemptions after May 2 as it relates to importing Iranian oil. The US position there remains quite firm," she said in response to a question.

The US reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after pulling out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and six other world powers.

Ortagus said the American sanctions on Iran were working.

"Our sanctions are working and I think that you've heard the Secretary Brian Hook and myself go through a litany of ways in which we know that the sanctions are quite effective for Iran," she said.