Tehran Times: EU threat to ban export of Iranian gas just a bluff: official

The Iranian Oil Ministry has downplayed the recent threat by the European Union (EU) to ban Iran’s natural gas export.

The EU threat is a “propaganda campaign,” Oil Ministry spokesman Alireza Nikzad-Rahbar said in response to EU diplomats’ recent remarks that the EU is mulling over imposing a ban on exports of Iranian gas.

“Right now, no EU member imports Iranian gas,” Nikzad-Rahbar said, “The new EU threat is just propaganda maneuvering and will never be enacted since they (the EU members) can never make themselves politically dependent on other countries.”

Nikzad-Rahbar added that sanctions would only deprive Europe of Iran’s abundant gas reserves and make Europe more dependent on other sources of energy, which would threaten the continent’s energy security.  MORE