Iran stops oil exports to Britain, France.
IranAP - Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Iranian oil ministry announced on its website Sunday, a move seen as retaliation for the European Union's decision last month to ramp up sanctions designed to pressure Tehran into resuming talks on its nuclear program.
A statement posted the website shana.ir gave no other details, but it appears to be part of a backlash against the EU for imposing a boycott on Iranian oil beginning in July. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 per cent of Iran's oil exports.
The announcement comes the same day that a team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency went to Tehran for the second time in three weeks. Their visit is another attempt to break more than three years of Iranian stonewalling about allegations that Tehran has — or is — secretly working on nuclear weapons.
At the same time, Iran's Revolutionary Guard began two days of land military exercises to upgrade its capabilities to defend the country against possible external threats.
Commander of the Guard's ground forces Mohammad Pakpour said on comments posted on the force's website sepahnews.com that the manoeuvres dubbed Valfajr, or Dawn, began Sunday outside the city of Yazd in central Iran.
The Guard is Iran's most powerful military unit.
The exercises are the latest in a series of manoeuvres held amid escalating tensions between Iran and the West over Iran's nuclear program. In another development Sunday, Iran's oil ministry website said oil shipments to Britain and France are now on hold.
The U.S. and Israel have not ruled out military strikes against Iran's program, which they say aims at developing weapons technology. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday that Tehran was prepared for a "worse-case scenario" as it defends what he maintains is a peaceful nuclear program.
"We plan to move ahead with vigor and confidence and we do not take much heed of [the West's] propaganda warfare. Even in the worst-case scenario, we remain prepared," he said.