Industry and Energy

Home page

Industry and Energy

Iran’s SNSC studying cut of oil supplies to EU

06 February 2012 08:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Konul Jafarli - APA. Iranian parliamentary sources revealed on Saturday that the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and three branches of power (the Parliament, the Government and the Judiciary) are studying a double-urgency bill of the parliament on cutting crude exports to the European countries.

"Apart from the SNSC, the issue is important for the parliament, government and the country’s macro-scale decision-making levels," member of the parliament’s Presiding Board Omidvar Rezayee told FNA, referring to the finalization of the parliament’s last week bill on cutting oil exports to the EU members.

He said the issue is presently under study at the SNSC and economic departments of the three branches of power, and added, "They will take the final decision in this regard."

After months of debates, the EU member states eventually reached an agreement in their meeting on January 23 to sanction oil imports from Iran and freeze the assets of Iran’s Central Bank within the EU.

Following the decision, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton claimed that the sanctions are aimed at pressuring Iran to return to talks over its nuclear program.

Despite Ashton’s claims, Iran has always underlined its preparedness to resume talks with the West but has meantime stressed that it will never accept any precondition for such talks.