Iran Speaks of Cutting Supplies to Other European Countries
On Monday a semi-official Iranian news agency reported that the Islamic Republic is considering the plans to expand the existing oil embargo on Britain and France to other European states as well. Ahmed Qalehbani, the head of the state oil company of Iran said that Iran could halt the sales of crude to the countries that were taking actions against Iran. He said further that if some European states continue their hostile acts towards Iran, crude exports to these nations will be halted.
On Sunday Iran had announced to cut-off the supplies to Britain and France, which is being considered a pre-emptive retaliation for an embargo of the European Union, scheduled to be in effect in July, over the controversy struck Iranian nuclear program of Iran. Since the announcement was made of this embargo last month, the Iranian officials have said that the country to should slap its own sanctions on hostile nations before the European countries start searching for alternative suppliers. This news of a possible embargo resulted in the oil prices reaching a nine month high of $105 per barrel in Asia on Monday.
Qalehbani has made the prediction that these prices could reach new highs. He said that the considering the current market situation it can be said that the oil may reach a price of $150 per barrel. According to Iran, its major European customers include Greece, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, and Italy. Out of these some states may not be importing oil from the Islamic Republic. France has already played down the Iranian tactics, saying that the companies have already gone for alternative suppliers.
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