South Korea to halt Iran oil imports
South Korea has said it will suspend all imports of Iranian oil from 1 July amid a European Union (EU) insurance ban on vessels carrying the product, BBC reported.
The insurance ban is part of a series of measures taken by the EU and the US to hurt Iran's oil exports.
Oil is a major source of revenue for Tehran and the EU and US have been trying to use it as a tool to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program.
South Korea is the first major Asian economy to halt oil imports from Iran.
"The EU will ban providing insurance related to Iranian oil imports, because of which we cannot get the insurance provided by the European insurance companies," a spokesperson for South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy told BBC.
He added that as a result South Korea was not in a position to continue importing oil from Tehran.