Iran asks Gulf not to raise oil output

TEHRAN — Iran has asked Gulf states not to make up for any shortfall in its oil exports under new US and EU sanctions, adding yet another layer of peril to the international showdown over its nuclear programme.

If Arab neighbours compensate for a looming EU ban on Iranian imports, “we would not consider these actions to be friendly,” Iran’s representative to Opec, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, was quoted as saying by the Sharq newspaper yesterday.

“They will be held responsible for what happens” in that case, he said, adding ominously: “One cannot predict the consequences.”

This came as Iran is being hammered on several fronts over its nuclear programme, which it is defiantly expanding.

Western sanctions are being ratcheted up, shaking Iran’s oil-dependent economy.

Military pressure is building, with the United States and Britain deploying warships to the Gulf, and reports suggesting Israel could be poised to launch air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

A covert campaign has also been stepped up, as evidenced last Wednesday by the murder of a deputy director of Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant — the fifth Iranian scientist to be targeted in Tehran by motorbike-mounted assassins in the past two years.

Furious Iranian officials say they are looking at ways to hit back against those they see responsible for the attacks: the United States, Israel and Britain.

They are also threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if extra sanctions bite. — AFP