'EU ban on importing oil to cause hefty losses to Europeans'

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IANS | 31 Jan, 2012
The European Union (EU) ban on importing oil from Iran will be a "hefty economic loss" for the Europeans, the state-run Press TV quoted a senior Iranian minister as saying.

"Countries which voted for (oil) sanctions against Iran have been unaware of the impact that this measure will have on them and have been unable to understand hefty economic losses which they will suffer under these critical conditions," Xinhua quoted Esmail Kowsari, a member of the Iranian (parliament) Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, as saying Monday.

Iranian lawmakers, said Kowsari, have prepared a bill to stop oil exports to the EU which is in final stages of approval. They will give a suitable response to the West's hostile measures.

It will deal a heavy blow to hundreds of European refineries, he added.

Some Iranian lawmakers, in the last few days, have said that Iran's Majlis (parliament) would discuss a bill over a ban on oil exports to the EU.

The Majlis Energy Commission, however, said Sunday that no bill had been drafted or brought to the legislature regarding that matter.

Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has also said that his country will soon stop oil exports to certain members of the EU.

The EU foreign ministers, last week, decided to embargo Iran's oil and oil products which will come into effect from July 1, 2012.