from the website www.canada.com/

Iran threatens to use oil as weapon
In nuclear program standoff

Nasser Karimi
Associated Press


Saturday, March 11, 2006



CREDIT: Associated Press
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, and Iranian Interior
Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi appear at a conference this week in
Tehran entitled "The World without Zionism." Ahmadinejad said Israel
should be "wiped off the map."

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran threatened Saturday to use oil as a weapon if the
UN Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program.

The country's interior minister raised the possibility of using Iran's
own oil and gas supplies and its position on a vital Persian Gulf oil
route as weapons in the international standoff.

"If (they) politicize our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are
rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most
sensitive energy route of the world," Interior Minister Mostafa
Pourmohammadi was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic
News Agency.

Iran is the No. 2 producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries and has partial control over the narrow Strait of Hormuz at
the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The strait is an essential passage for
crude oil from key producers such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United
Arab Emirates and Iraq.

Pourmohammadi's statements were the most specific yet -- and the first
explicitly targeting oil -- in a series of threats levied by Iranian
officials as the Security Council discusses what action to take over
Iran's nuclear program. Washington says Iran wants to produce atomic
weapons. Iran denies that claim, saying it intends only to generate
electricity.

"No means (for reprisals) will be ignored and we will not disregard any
means," said Pourmohammadi, who warned from the sideline of a Tehran
city ceremony that Iran's critics could be underestimating his
country's ability to strike back if sanctions are imposed.

"If they want to try other options, they have to be sure that our
potential is not less than theirs," he said.

Iran's hardline president warned Thursday that the West will suffer
more than his country if it tries to block Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The top Iranian delegate to the UN atomic watchdog agency said a day
earlier that the United States will face "harm and pain" if the
Security Council becomes involved.

Some diplomats saw the comments as veiled threats to use oil as a
weapon, though Iran's oil minister ruled out any decrease in
production. Iran also has leverage with extremist groups in the Middle
East that could harm U.S. interests.

About 90 per cent of the oil exported from the Gulf in recent years
passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the U.S. Department
of Energy's Energy Information Administration.

Closure of the strait would require more costly shipping of oil and
natural gas by pipeline across Saudi Arabia, according to the agency's
Web site.

The five veto-holding members of the Security Council -- Britain,
France, the United States, Russia and China -- were considering
proposals Friday to pressure Iran to resolve questions about its
nuclear program, including demands that it abandon uranium enrichment
and stop construction on a reactor, diplomats said.

Enrichment can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material
for an atomic bomb.

Britain, France and the United States are seeking a tough statement
aimed at pressuring Iran. Russia indicated it was uncomfortable with
significant action, fearful that Iran could spurn negotiations
entirely. China is believed to side with Russia.

Former Israeli military chief Moshe Yaalon said Thursday that Israel
and the West have the ability to launch a military strike that could
set back Iran's nuclear program for years. Yaalon was widely criticized
for the remarks, with some saying he was drawing unnecessary attention
to Israel's capabilities.

Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that Israel
remains part of an international coalition against a nuclear Iran,
suggesting Israel would not act alone against Tehran.

Also Saturday, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed Russian
official as saying Iran's refusal to restore a moratorium on enrichment
has made a compromise offer to host the Iranian uranium enrichment
program impossible.

In an attempt to stave off sanctions against Iran, Moscow had proposed
a joint venture to conduct Tehran's enrichment on Russian territory, an
offer backed by both the U.S. and the European Union as a way to
prevent Iran from diverting enriched uranium to a weapons program.

Talks on the proposal stalled over Iran's insistence on maintaining
some domestic enrichment activity.

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