Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said the Islamic state would not retreat from its nuclear programme even if its crude oil exports grind toa halt, the official IRNA newsagency reported on Saturday.
But he also called on the European Union, which accounted for a quarter of Iranian crudeoil sales in the third quarter of 2011, to review its decision last week to bank Iranian oil imports from July 1.
Qasemisaid that the oil market is in balance now but would be thrown into turmoil without
Iranian crude supplies.
Qasemi said Iran would cut oil exports to some nations in Europe — he did not specify which — in retaliation for the 27-state European Union’s decision to stop importing Iranian
crude.
(Published 04 February 2012, 19:02 IST)
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