(Yonhap) -- The U.S. government said Friday it would extend Iran sanctions exceptions for South Korea and other nations, saying they have significantly cut oil purchases from the Middle East country.

   Despite last week's breakthrough in efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis, the Obama administration will continue to vigorously implement its existing sanctions on Teheran, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

   "That is why I am pleased to announce that, based on additional significant reductions in the volume of their purchases of Iranian

crude oil, China, India, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Turkey, and Taiwan have again qualified for an exception to sanctions outlined in Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012," he said.

   In addition, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, and Sri Lanka have also qualified again for the NDAA exception because they no longer purchase crude oil from Iran, added the secretary.

   The decision would allow the countries to keep purchasing reduced amounts of Iranian crude oil for the next 180 days without any penalties under the U.S. legislation.

   The announcement came after the U.S. and five other global powers struck a deal in Geneva with Iran to ease sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

   Kerry emphasized the significance of sanctions on Iran. 

"The effectiveness of the international sanctions regime has proven essential in bringing Iran to the table to negotiate and agree to the Joint Action Plan that, for the first time in nearly a decade, halts the progress of the Iranian nuclear program and rolls it back in key areas," he said.

   Although the U.S. will pause for six months its efforts to further reduce Iran's crude oil sales as part of the Geneva deal, the secretary added, there will be no relief from sanctions with respect to any increases in Iranian crude oil purchases by existing customers or any purchases by new customers.

   "We will continue to aggressively enforce our sanctions over the next six months, as we work to determine whether there is a comprehensive solution that gives us confidence that the Iranian nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes," he said.

   The U.S. has formed the so-called P5+1 group with China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany for negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program.