U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan July 9, 2018. Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will consider requests from some countries to be exempted from sanctions it will put in effect in November to prevent Iran from exporting oil, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday.

“There will be a handful of countries that come to the United States and ask for relief from that. We’ll consider it,” Pompeo said according to the text of an interview in Abu Dhabi with Sky News Arabia released by the U.S. State Department. He did not name any countries.