Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Former Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir-Kazzemi on Wednesday said the country can use its crude supplies as leverage against the European Union if the EU continues its obstinate behavior towards Iran, Fars news reported.

"When the westerners use oil as a political tool they should realize that oil is actually a political instrument for Iran and not them since Iran is the owner of oil," Mir-Kazzemi, who is now chairman of the parliament's Energy Commission, told reporters on the sidelines of an open session of the parliament in Tehran.

Mir-Kazzemi said Iran can use the oil leverage to reciprocate the Europeans' animosity, but it does not intend to do so, because such a move by Iran could trouble the people in Europe.

He noted Iran should certainly cut its crude supplies if the EU continues its stubborn behavior. Mir-Kazzemi warned Iran will naturally reciprocate West's action.

The lawmaker's remark came after Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi warned on Wednesday that Tehran would halt its oil exports to the world if more sanctions were imposed on the country.

Qasemi said Iran would stop oil exports if pressure from Western sanctions got any tighter and it had a "Plan B" contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues.

He also added that the dearth of Iranian oil in the market will increase the price drastically.

But the threat, made by Qasemi at the World Energy Forum, a conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, appeared to have no impact. In a possible reflection of how steeply Iran's influence in the market has eroded, oil prices fell to a three-month low.

At the same time, the head of Iran National Standard Organization Nezameddin Barzegari said Iran is mulling a plan to cut crude oil sales to save value added coming from producing oil derivatives to supply to the market of 70 million population, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

He said that the five-year development plan has envisaged a halt to crude oil sales and producing oil derivatives to save value added for the national economy.

Barzegari noted the God-given resources should be directed for optimal use and channeled to the downstream industries.

He said for years crude oil was exported and the governments looked at the oil income as windfall to be spent on luxury goods, a decision which should be abandoned in favor of Resistance Economy.

Earlier last week, EU countries imposed sanctions against major Iranian state companies in the oil and gas industry, and toughened restrictions on the central bank, cranking up financial pressure over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran blasted the sanctions as a move violating the principles of human rights, and said it will protest against embargos through legal channels.

Western nations led by the United States have imposed tough sanctions on Iran this year in an attempt to curb its nuclear program that they say is designed to produce an atomic bomb. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.