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Iran says sanctions to fail, re-threatens to close Hormuz
Iranian politicians said on Tuesday they expected the European Union to backtrack on its oil embargo and repeated a threat to close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if the West succeeds in preventing Tehran from exporting crude, Reuters reported.
A US air craft carrier passed through the Straits of Hormuz on Sunday without incident despite Iranian threats to close the popular oil route if the EU did not lift sanctions on Iranian oil
A day after the EU banned Iranian oil, Iran's tone appeared defiant, even sceptical, with Teheran insisting that, with the EU faced with its own economic crisis, it needs Iran's oil more than Iran needs its business.
The ban is expected to take full effect within six months.
The EU wants to press Iran into curbing its contested nuclear programme and engage in talks with six world powers.
A spokesman for the oil ministry said Iran had had plenty of time to prepare for the sanctions and would find alternative customers for the 18 percent of its exports that up to now have gone to the 27-nation European bloc.
The embargo will not kick in completely until 1 July because the bloc's foreign ministers who agreed the ban at a meeting in Brussels were anxious not to penalise the ailing economies of Greece, Italy and others to whom Iran is a major oil supplier.
The strategy will be reviewed in May to see if it should proceed.
Iran, which denies international suspicions that it is trying to design atomic bombs behind the facade of a declared civilian atomic energy programme, has scoffed at efforts to bar its oil exports as Asia lines up to buy what Europe rejects.
The United States, which sailed an aircraft carrier through the strait into the Gulf accompanied by British and French warships on Sunday, has said it would not tolerate the closure of the world's most important oil shipping gateway.
Fitch Ratings issued an assessment of the embargo's market impact saying it would likely cause an oil price increase.
The embargo decision had no discernible impact on oil prices as it was a move that had been flagged well in advance and the threat to close Hormuz seemed remote. Brent crude down slightly at $110 per barrel on Tuesday.
Washington applied its own sanctions to Iran's oil trade and central bank on 31 December and on Monday extended them to the third largest Iranian bank, state-owned Bank Tejarat, and a Belarus-based affiliate for allegedly helping Teheran's nuclear advance.
The EU sanctions were also welcomed by Israel, which has warned it might attack Iran if sanctions do not deflect Teheran from a course that some analysts say could potentially give Iran the means to build a nuclear bomb next year.
