Iran's parliament to debate bill halting oil sales to EU

Feb 7, 2012, 10:48 GMT

Tehran - Iran's parliament was to debate a bill aimed at stopping oil sales to European Union countries involved in an oil embargo initiative, the Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

'It is definitely necessary to show the EU a decisive reply to this irrational decision,' said Speaker Ali Larijani.

In January, EU foreign ministers decided on an embargo on Iranian oil and a freeze on the accounts of the Iranian central bank as a means of forcing Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

Parliament was to debate the bill last week, but postponed it pending consultations with the government.

The spokesman of the Energy Commission, Parviz Sorouri, told Fars that the bill was almost ready and would be debated soon.

He said that if the bill was approved then a special committee of ministers would be in charge of its swift implementation.

Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had earlier said there were plans to cut oil exports to some European countries in the near future but wouldn't give any further details.

But he also said that Iran would not want to inconvenience Europeans during the winter.

Lawmaker Karim Qodoussi said parliament should show a decisive reaction to the EU sanctions as 'they were initiated by the Zionist regime (Israel).' He said five EU ambassadors in Tehran had a meeting with the oil minister.

An estimated 18 per cent of Iranian oil exports go to the EU, in large part to Greece, Italy and Spain. The main customers for Iranian oil are India, Japan, Korea and Turkey.