India and other major Iranian oil importing countries have got six months relief from reducing their import after Tehran agreed to curb parts of its disputed nuclear programme under a landmark deal. A senior US administration official said that the Joint Plan of Action provides the United States pause efforts to further reduce Iran's crude oil sales to its existing customers for the six-month. The oil importing countries, however, cannot increase the amount of oil they are importing.India had slashed import of crude oil from Iran by over 26.5 per cent in the financial year ended March 31, 2013 as US and European sanctions made it difficult to ship oil from the Persian Gulf nation.The comments came days after Iran and six world powers reached an agreement under which Tehran agreed to curb parts of its nuclear programme for six months in exchange for modest relief from international sanctions. Iran will start scaling back its nuclear programme from 20th January.