Japan’s crude imports from Iran fell 6.3 percent in March from a year ago, ahead of a sharp drop expected in coming months due to difficulty in doing business with Tehran amid tighter Western sanctions, Reuters reported Thursday, April 26. Japan will slash its Iranian crude purchases by almost 80 percent in April from the earlier months of the year, as buyers comply with U.S. and E.U. measures that make it tough to pay for, ship and insure the oil. Meanwhile, South Korea will make sharp cuts in imports of Iranian crude from June, as one of two buyers of Iranian oil in the country will stop lifting cargoes. Asia’s top four consumers of Iranian oil – Japan, South Korea, China and India – have all cut imports this year, and other exporters have boosted sales to fill the gap.