NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Dispatches) - Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso has pressed his U.S. counterpart Steven Mnuchin to ensure Japanese firms are not hurt by Washington's sanctions on Iran.
The United States' withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal means sanctions on financial institutions that do business with Iran will be restored in November.
Aso told a press conference that he relayed to Mnuchin his "hope that Japan's concerns are addressed" in the meeting on the sidelines of a gathering of finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies.
Japanese officials have said Iran's oil is "extremely important" to their country's energy security; Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Hiroshige Seko said last month Japan "intends to have talks with the U.S. tenaciously in order to continue Iranian crude oil imports".
U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to bring Iran's oil imports down to zero. On Thursday, he said the U.S. "will take care" of countries which defy the directive.
"We will take care of them," Trump told reporters when asked about the decision of some countries like India and China to continue to purchase oil from Iran.
Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said last Monday that two state refiners have placed orders for importing crude oil from Iran in November.