Islam Times - Iran may revise its policy on oil supplies to global markets: Minister

Islam Times - Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says Tehran may revise its policy about oil supplies to international markets if the hegemonic system proceeds with its efforts to exert more pressure on Iran’s oil industry and limit the country’s oil exports.

“Lack of Iran’s oil in global markets can affect energy prices across the world and prepare the ground for the creation of a broad crisis in the West’s industrial economies,” Qasemi said on Saturday.

He added that adverse repercussions of such a move would have impact on the people in industrial countries saying, “We do not seek such an incident at all.”

Qasemi emphasized that arrogant countries should be held accountable for the consequences of an increase in energy price.

On October 24, the Iranian oil minister warned that Tehran would halt oil exports if more sanctions were imposed on the country.
If the West continues “to add to the sanctions, we will stop our oil exports to the world… The dearth of Iranian oil on the market will increase the price drastically,” Qasemi stated.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. The sanctions came into force in early summer 2012.

On October 15, the EU foreign ministers reached an agreement on another round of sanctions against Iran.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.