US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged India to buy less oil from sanctions-hit Iran.

美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿敦促印度少从伊朗进口石油。

In a stop in Calcutta, she commended energy-starved India for "working to lower purchases of Iranian oil" and hoped it would do more.

India has been facing pressure buy less Iranian oil amid sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme.

The US and its western partners suspect Iran of using the programme to develop a nuclear weapons capability¹.

Tehran says the programme is solely² for civilian³ purposes.

The US plans to implement⁴ a round of sanctions, starting on 28 June, against banks based in countries that do not cut their oil imports from Iran.

"[The] reason why India, China, Japan, etc who are primary purchasers of Iranian oil are being asked to lower supply is to keep pressure on Iran," Mrs Clinton said on the first leg of her visit to India.

She said other supplies of oil were available to India.

"Saudi Arabia and others are putting more oil into the market," she said.

"India understands the use of diplomacy⁵ to resolve this threat and is working towards lowering purchases of Iranian oil... We hope they will do even more. We believe this is part of India's role in the international community."

Mrs Clinton is meeting the chief minister of the eastern state of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, before going to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.

Ms Banerjee was recently named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential⁶ people in the world.