Reuters: Iran is unlikely to use oil as a weapon in the dispute over its nuclear activities, but the world community has measures to deal with a disruption if one occurred, the European Union’s energy chief said on Tuesday. BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Iran is unlikely to use oil as a weapon in the dispute over its nuclear activities, but the world community has measures to deal with a disruption if one occurred, the European Union’s energy chief said on Tuesday.
“Iran is a large supplier of oil … so definitely any disruption of supply will influence the world market. For such a situation of disruption we have mechanisms developed,” EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs told a news conference.
“At the same time I really believe that Iran will never use such a step because it will be counterproductive for the debate,” he said.
The United States accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons while Iran insists it wants a nuclear programme only to run atomic power stations.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has not ruled out triggering an oil price rise if the United Nations imposed sanctions.
Piebalgs said such a move would not be helpful to Iran in explaining its position to the world community.
A disruption in supply could be addressed by the International Energy Agency, he said, which would call for the release of security stocks.
