President Barack Obama in White House press room. Photo: wiki commons.

NY Times – The Obama administration on Tuesday exempted Japan and 10 European nations from biting sanctions intended to punish those who continued to purchase oil from Iran.

The sanctions, mandated by Congress last year to intensify economic pressure to stop Iran’s nuclear program, had put the administration in the difficult position of threatening to punish some of the United States’ closest allies. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton instead exercised a provision in the law that exempted any country that significantly reduced the supply of oil from Iran.

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