The United States today  exempted eight countries, including India from the US sanctions for buying Iranian oil. Addressing a press conference in Washington, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the list of the countries temporarily exempted from the sanctions. These include China, Japan, Italy, Greece, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. Mr Pompeo said, these countries showed significant reduction in oil purchase from the Persian Gulf country after the Trump administration reimposed sanctions on Tehran. <br />'' <br />''During the press conference Mr Pompeo also warned companies globally that they would be subject to severe penalties including potential sanctions if they continued to have  commercial transactions with Iran.Asserting that the US wants Iran to change its behaviour, Mr Pompeo said that at the center of it is an unprecedented campaign of economic pressure.He said the objective is to starve the Iranian regime of the revenue it uses to fund violent and destabilising activities throughout the Middle East and around the world.<br />''<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The US today imposed the toughest ever sanctions on Iran. The sanctions cover Iran's banking and energy sectors and reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports.</span>