Iran halts oil sales to UK and France

Iran has halted to its oil sales to Britain and France on Sunday - European Union enraged Tehran last month when it decided to impose a boycott on its oil from July 1. Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, responded by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, the main Gulf oil shipping lane.

On Sunday, its oil ministry went a step further, announcing Iran has now stopped selling oil to France and Britain altogether - a powerful yet largely symbolic message since neither European nation relies on Iranian crude imports.

Read more: Reuters

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India Defends Iranian Oil Purchases

Diplomats and analysts say India’s purchasing of Iranian oil is a matter of economic necessity, given its dependence on imported oil. Some say the purchases also represent diplomatic hedging in a region bracing for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by 2014, or possibly sooner.

“This can’t be a test of our friendship,” said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the United States. “Washington must realize that we are in a neighborhood where Iran is a factor.”

Read more: The New York Times

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Iran offers Pakistan oil supply on soft terms

With a decline in oil export  to the world market due to new US and European Union sanctions, Iran has offered to provide Pakistan oil on long-term deferred payments by laying a pipeline between the two countries.

The offer, which may also benefit Afghanistan, was made by Iranduring a recent visit to Pakistan by its International Affairs Vice President Ali Saeedlou.

Iranian oil supply to the world market has declined by 20% following the embargo imposed by the US and EU.

Read more: The Express Tribune

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Iran Begins Major Exercises - A Warning To The West?

After threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Revolutionary Guard launched maneuvers in the southern part of the country Saturday, well south of Tehran, but north of the strait.

Ali Akbar Dareini at The Associated Press reports these most recent exercises followed warnings by Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regarding potential attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

Read more: Business Insider

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Iran oil halt 'would raise price 30 per cent' - warns IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that global crude prices could rise as much as 30 per cent if Iran halted oil exports as a result of US and European Union sanctions.

If Iran halts exports to countries without offsets from other sources, it would likely trigger an "initial" oil price jump of 20 to 30 per cent, or about $20 to $30 per barrel, the IMF said in its first public comment on a possible Iranian oil supply disruption.

The price impact caused by a cut in Iranian exports could be exacerbated by below average oil stocks in many countries, the result of tight oil market conditions through much of last year, the IMF said.

Read more: Al Jazeera

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EU imposes Iran oil embargo

Europe slapped a boycott on Iranian oil Monday, signaling that the Islamic Republic's second-largest market is likely to dry up as part of a U.S.-led sanctions campaign that has already inflicted serious damage on Iran's economy and sharply increased tensions.

EU imposes oil embargo on Iran

The value of Iran's currency is falling dramatically, prices are rising and Iranians are stocking up on supplies in fear of worse to come. 

Iran, which receives an estimated 70% of its revenue from oil sales, has threatened to retaliate by choking off the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the Persian Gulf.

Read more: LA Times
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Warships Flotilla sent through Strait of Hormuz Heightens Tensions

Britain joined the United States and France in sending a flotilla of warships through the sensitive Strait of Hormuz in a pointed message to the Iranian regime on 22 January.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate, HMS Argyll, was part of the the US-led carrier group to pass through the waterway, as tensions continued to escalate over Tehran's nuclear programme.

Read more: Huffington Post

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Japan to reduce oil imports from Iran

Japan agreed Thursday to cut its dependence on Iranian oil, bolstering the U.S.-led effort to choke off funding for Iran’s nuclear development program.

The Japanese pledge, made during a visit here by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, stood in contrast to resistance this week from China, where officials say that Iran’s uranium program and its energy sales should not be linked.

Read more: Washington Post 1/13/2012
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US military moves carriers in Arabian Sea

[ via China Daily ] 12 Jan

The US military said on Wednesday that a new aircraft carrier strike grouphad arrived in the Arabian Sea and that another was on its way to the region, but denied anylink to recent tensions with Iran and portrayed the movements as routine.

The US military has said it will halt any blockade of the strategic strait and the top US navalofficer acknowledged on Tuesday that preparing for a potential conflict there was somethingthat "keeps me awake at night."

Read more: China Daily

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Oil Warfare: U.S. presses China, Japan, South Korea to trim Iran oil imports

[ via LA Times ] 10 Jan

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner faces a challenge as he asks those nations to help Washington use sanctions to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.

The Obama administration is pressing those countries to help squeeze Iran financially, hoping to compel the Middle Eastern nation to abandon what Washington and allies say is a plan to develop nuclear weapons. 

China has so far rebuffed the overtures, arguing there should be no link between trade with Iran and its nuclear program. Iran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

Read more: LA Times

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US to respond if Iran blocks Gulf

[ via Gulf Daily News ] 9 Jan

The US will respond if Iran tries to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta warned yesterday, saying such a move would cross a "red line".

"We made very clear that the US will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz," Panetta told CBS television. "That's another red line for us and that we will respond to them."

Iran has threatened to close the strait if the European Union slaps an embargo on Iranian oil, the latest step in a US-led campaign to pressure Tehran to give up their nuclear programme. Western powers suspects Iran is bent on gaining atomic weapons, which Tehran denies.

Read more: Gulf Daily News

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Iran Nuclear Program: Big buyers shun Iran oil

[ via Reuters ] 

Iran faces the prospect of cutbacks in its oil sales to China and Japan as new measures to block Tehran's crude exports over its nuclear program appears to be driving its economy to the wall.

China, Iran's biggest trade partner, has already cut its purchases of Iranian oil by more than half this month and would extend the cuts to February, a Beijing-based trader who deals with Iranian oil said.

Japan is also said to be considering cutbacks in its Iranian oil purchases to secure a waiver from new U.S. sanctions signed into law on New Year's Eve by President Barack Obama, a government source said.

Read more: Reuters

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