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Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has met world powers to discuss Iran's nuclear programme and international sanctions Reuters

Iran's exports of crude oil has reached its highest level in almost 2 years and is exceeding the limit imposed by world powers in a temporary agreement.

The International Energy Agency's (IEA) monthly report revised February's global crude imports from Iran up to 1.65m barrels per day (bpd,) the highest since June 2012.

According to the terms of a landmark agreement signed by Iran and a group of world powers, the P5+1, Iran's oil exports are supposed to be held at an average of one million barrels per day until July 20.

The P5+1 consists of the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

International sanctions have hampered Iran's oil exports over the past two years and the amount of oil it sells abroad has halved.

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"The question is whether they are going to continue to test the sanctions," Antoine Halff, IEA's head of oil industry and markets division, told Reuters.

China, India and South Korea were among the biggest importers of the extra 240,000 bpd included in IEA's revised figure of 1.65m bpd for February.

Other regular importers include Japan and Turkey, although Japan's imports for February were revised down by 103,000 bpd, according to the IEA.

The agency sources its data from member and non-member states as well as shipping data.

Preliminary data for March showed that imports from Iran had dropped to 1.05m bpd "but that figure is likely to be revised upwards closer to February levels upon receipt of more complete data", it said.

Tanker tracking sources suggest Iran's crude exports averaged around 1.3m bpd in March, the fifth month running when average exports were above the 1m bpd benchmark.

Iranian Foreign Minister has recently held a round of talks with world powers in a bid to reach a permanent agreement over Iran's nuclear programme.

Tehran says its programme is peaceful and is seeking to reach a deal that will end global sanctions against it. World powers will meet with Iran again in May, in a bid to secure a permanent agreement.

Under the interim deal, Iran froze a number of nuclear activities in exchange for a partial lifting of sanctions.