Reuters: Iran has taken steps to protect its oil facilities against any military attack, a senior energy official was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
TEHRAN, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Iran has taken steps to protect its oil facilities against any military attack, a senior energy official was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Neither Israel nor the United States have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve a long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear activities. Iran has vowed to retaliate against any attack.
The West fears Iran's nuclear programme is aimed at making bombs. Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, denies the charge.
"Based on our experience from the eight-year sacred defence, we have adopted new measures to protect oil facilities against any possible military strike," ILNA news agency quoted Noureddin Shahnazizadeh, head of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), as saying.
He was referring to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
"As an example, the necessary measures have been adopted in the Arak and Bandar Abbas refineries so that any possible bombardment can not damage the unit controls and other sensitive sections of the oil facilities," he said, giving no further detail.
The United States and its European allies are planning to impose further sanctions on Iran after its failure to meet an effective U.S. deadline of Dec. 31 to accept a U.N.-brokered proposal to send its uranium abroad for processing. (Reporting by Reza Derakhshi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Amanda Cooper)
