Japan on Wednesday welcomed a US decision to exempt Japan from its new financial sanctions against Iran over the latter's nuclear weapons program. The move comes a day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Washington has decided to exempt financial institutions based in Japan and ten European countries from its new financial sanctions against Iran over the suspected program. Clinton also praised past efforts by those countries to reduce Iranian oil imports. Japan's (Kyodo) news agency quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura as saying in a news conference that the United States took into consideration Japan's reduction of imports from Iran by some 40% over the last five years. With Japan's efforts to cut such imports, the country has been asking for an exemption for Japanese financial institutions involved in oil transactions, Japan's top government spokesman said.