Toyota Motor Corporation joined the global sanctions against Iran as it announced on Wednesday that it is halting all auto shipments into the country as the international community steps up its efforts to dissuade the pariah nation from pursuing its nuclear program.

In its statement, the giant carmaker said that auto exports bound for Iran have been suspended as early as June in consideration of the international environment as the company stressed that continued monitoring of the developments would be observed by the Toyota management.

Analysts said that the decision made by Toyota was largely spurred by fears of sanctions that could come from the United States as "firms continuing to deal with Iran have come under scrutiny from the US government."

A Japanese business daily reported that Toyota's business dealings with Iran may not be regarded as infringement on the US-led sanctions as it noted that shipments sent by the company to the defiant country in the last three years were mostly heading towards a considerable decline.

The Nikkei business daily said that from the 4000 units shipped in 2008, Toyota's deliveries to Iran were greatly limited to 250 Land Cruisers and other models and as the current year heads into its middle part, the auto giant's exports further dwindled to a measly number of 226 units.

Industry experts said that the moves by Toyota is understandable considering that the company's total sales in North America bested its own domestic performance with the company's revenues collected from the region improving by as much as 40 percent in the April to June quarter alone.

Economic sanctions against Iran have been piling up due to its stubborn policy of nuclear development program, with the United Nations (UN) Security Council further applying pressures when it passed a resolution in June calling on Tehran to stop the program, widely believed as mere cover for its surreptitious development of nuclear arsenal.

The United States has maintained that nations found to have breached the imposed sanctions against Iran would face considerable restraint in entering the US market.