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Iran suspends oil exports to Britain, France

19 February 2012 22:47 (UTC +04:00)

Iranian Oil Ministry spokesperson Ali Reza Nikzad-Rahbar confirmed the report, saying, â€œCrude exports to British and French companies have been halted.â€

â€œWe have our own oil customers,â€ he added.

On January 29, the Iranian oil minister announced that Iran would cut oil exports to â€œcertain countriesâ€ in the near future in response to the oil embargo that the European Union imposed on the Islamic Republic on January 23.

Iranian MP Nasser Soudani, who is a member of the Majlis Energy Committee, said on Sunday that Iran may halt oil exports to a number of other EU countries in the future.

â€œAll scenarios are on the table,â€ Soudani stated, adding, â€œCorrespondence has been exchanged with certain European countries, and they have been asked to reconsider their hostile decisions toward Iran.â€

Hassan Tajik, the director of the Iranian Foreign Ministryâ€™s Western Europe Department, held separate meetings with the ambassadors of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, and France on February 15, in which a range of issues, including the oil embargo, were discussed.

â€œWe have made efforts toâ€¦ inform the European people of the fact that European governments themselves will be responsible for the consequences of the decision,â€ Tajik said at the time.

The Iranian parliament has prepared a plan calling for a halt to Iranâ€™s oil exports to the European Union states that voted for sanctions on the countryâ€™s oil industry, which will reportedly be discussed in the parliament after Iranâ€™s next parliamentary election, which is scheduled to be held on March 2.