'Iran pressures EU not to side with US'

Interview with Arun Gupta, editor of The Indypendent

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So a lot of it (Iran’s oil) is being bought by India, China and other Asian powers and I think what Iran is trying to do is to put some pressure on the Europeans not to side with the US.”

Iran says it will cut oil exports to 6 European states, unless European companies agree to strike long-term agreements and guarantee payment to the country.

Earlier, Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the ambassadors of France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal to inform them of the decision. The move comes after a decision by the European Union to stop importing crude from Iran as of July.

Iran called the oil sanctions illegal and promised to respond by cutting oil to the EU. Oil prices have jumped to their highest levels in six months following Wednesday's news. Brent crude is traded at about 120 dollars a barrel - up about two dollars. US crude has risen about 1.3 dollars to more than 100 dollars.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Arun Gupta, editor of The Indypendent from New York, to further talk over the issue. What follows is the transcript of the interview:

Press TV: How significant a step and decision is this by Iran, that of cutting oil exports to these specific European states?

Gupta: I think certainly it is all maneuvering in terms of the US and Israel trying to put pressure on Iran but what we have to understand about the global oil markets is that [for] the buyers, it does not really matter. You know, Iran is selling much of its oil internationally anyway. It goes into one giant pool, so to speak.

So a lot of it is being bought by India, China and other Asian powers and I think what Iran is trying to do is to put some pressure on the Europeans not to side with the US but the Europeans have consistently shown that they essentially act as junior partners in Washington’s wars.

I think it is more symbolic than is somewhat a bluster on Iran’s part, but I think it does get to the deeper issue of how Europe and the United States are illegally trying to pressure Iran over its nuclear energy program.

Press TV: Mr. Gupta, won’t the very real consequence of this decision by Iran be on crude prices?

Gupta: It is more a fear factor because the European nations, the United States, Japan, they have strategic reserves and in these strategic reserves is something like 7 billion barrels.

These are precisely put in place to be able to allow the US to punish countries, oil-producing countries that it does not agree with.

In the case of Iran, these strategic reserves would be able to essentially make up for something like 3 years of keeping Iranian oil off the market. So there already is a pretty high fear factor in the markets.

You know, we have seen some spikes but nothing dramatic that we have seen around other wars like the Persian Gulf War or the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003.

MSK/JR