Iran halts oil exports to Britain, France

Tehran: Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said yesterday, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran’s crucial fuel exports.

The EU imposed tough sanctions against Iran last month, which included a freeze of the country’s central bank assets and an oil embargo set to begin in July.

Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Teh-ran could cut off oil exports to "hostile" European nations. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 per cent of Iran’s oil exports.

"Crude oil exports to British and French companies have been halted," Oil Ministry spokesman Ali Reza Nikzad Rahbar said on its shana.ir website.

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