Contrary to earlier reports, the Iran has not halted oil sales to European markets, the Islamic Republic’s Oil Minister Rostam Ghassemi said on Thursday, according to AFP.
“We are still selling oil to all of Europe except Britain and France,” Ghassemi said.
In early April, Iranian state-run Press TV reported that Iran had cut oil exports to Spain and was considering blocking sales to Germany and Italy.
“Exports to France and Britain have stopped. For the other countries the exports continue, although there are some financial problems in certain cases,” he said. The financial problems are the result of financial sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.
In February, the Belgium-based bank system SWIFT, which transfers funds internationally, cut Iran off.
At the time of Iran’s "counter-sanctions" announcement, Spain’s biggest refiner said it had already replaced its Iranian crude with oil from Saudi Arabia several months ago.
Iran has played a tit-for-tat game over crude shipments since the European Union agreed in January that it would stop all Iranian oil imports as of July. EU states have since sought alternative supplies before that deadline, with Iran threatening to cut exports before then.
"Tehran has cut oil supply to Spain after stopping crude export to Greece as part of its counter-sanctions," Press TV had said, citing unidentified sources, adding that a similar move was being considered for Germany and Italy.
A spokesman for Spanish refiner Repsol said it had not been buying Iranian oil for months.
"No crude out of Iran for us since January," he said.
Repsol’s imports of Iranian crude were estimated at around 65,000 barrels per day last year, making it one of Tehran’s medium-sized European customers.