Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Mar. 11 Iran will cut off its oil exports to the West if the United Nations Security Council orders sanctions to be imposed on the Islamic Republic, the countrys powerful Interior Minister declared on Saturday. Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Mar. 11 Iran will cut off its oil exports to the West if the United Nations Security Council orders sanctions to be imposed on the Islamic Republic, the countrys powerful Interior Minister declared on Saturday.
If sanctions are imposed, we will definitely use the oil tool and other tools and we will stop at nothing, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi told reporters.
Pour-Mohammadis threat follows Irans referral earlier this week to the Security Council for non-cooperation with the International Atomic Eenergy Agency. It comes after an earlier announcement by Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh that Iran would continue to export oil even if sanctions were imposed. Pour-Mohammad is a more senior member of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads cabinet and a long-time confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Tehran faces possible punitive measures by the Security Council over its refusal to cooperate with the IAEA on its suspected nuclear weapons program
Pour-Mohammadi told reporters that Iran had the upper hand vis-à-vis its enemies regarding its nuclear pursuit.
The radical Shiite cleric went on to say that the international community had more to lose than Iran if they attempted to make a politico-security issue out of Tehrans nuclear program. He also said that the international community would suffer more than Iran if they went ahead with threats to impose sanction on the Islamic Republic.
Iran had no fear of having been referred to the Security Council, Pour-Mohammadi stressed.
Hinting at a possible decision by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the worlds oil supply passes everyday, the Interior Minister said that Iran was in control of the worlds largest and most sensitive strait regarding energy transfer.
If sanctions are imposed, we will use all our might and resources, and if they enter other domains they should know that we are not feeble.
