Iran 'halts oil sales to France and Britain'

Iran's national oil ministry has halted the sale of oil to British and French companies. A spokesman cam out and stated Iran would be looking for new companies to sell to. These actions are in response to European Union states voting on banning the import of Iranian oil earlier this month. The EU vote was a new way to put pressure on the Iranian government to halt its production of enriched uranium, which maybe used for energy or for nuclear war heads.

Iran's new position on selling oil is not expected to have a major impact on either the British or French economy as only 3% of France's oil comes from Iran and the British imported even less. However some EU states namely Greece, Spain and Italy are relatively dependent on Iranian oil and will need to search elsewhere for supply. As a whole the EU buys around 20% of Iran's crude oil, which accounts for much of the governments revenue.

As the world demand for crude oil continues to rise Iran should have no problem finding other buyers for their product. With China already the largest singular country importer of Iranian crude oil and their demand on the rise the Iranian government is not losing sleep over the EU sanctions which will be in full effect by summer.

Nicole LeDonne

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17089953