New Delhi India’s largest Iranian oil buyer plans almost to halve daily imports, industry sources said on Monday, becoming the latest Asian refiner to cut supplies from Iran as Western sanctions make trade with Opec’s second-largest producer difficult.

India, China and Japan buy almost half of Iran’s estimated 2.6 million barrels per day of oil exports, but a raft of US and European sanctions aimed at choking off funding for Iran’s nuclear programme are squeezing its oil supply lines.