Oil, Iran Sanctions | featured news

Iran said on Tuesday it would stop oil exports if pressure from Western sanctions got any tighter and it had a “Plan B” contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues.

Obscure private firms are offering Iranian crude oil at steep discounts to European oil traders as Tehran seeks ways to restore oil export flows hit by Western sanctions.

The United Arab Emirates opens and begins operating a key overland pipeline which bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, controlled by Iran. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait at the mouth of the Gulf, a vital oil-trade route.

Iran's Oil Minister says his office has drawn up plans to make newly tightened sanctions against the Islamic Republic ineffective.

Iran has reached agreements with European refiners to sell some of its oil through a private consortium, an official said on Saturday, a move designed to circumvent sanctions intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt its disputed nuclear program.

Iran's daily oil exports in July could fall below half the average shipped in 2011 before tough new Western sanctions stemmed the flow.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday the latest EU sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil are "the strongest" measures yet imposed on the country.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on India to further pressure Iran over its nuclear program after officials said the South Asian nation will curtail its imports of Iranian oil by 20 percent.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will use a two-day visit to India this week to urge further reductions in Indian imports of Iranian oil.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he has determined there is enough oil in the world market to allow countries to cut imports from Iran, allowing Washington to begin sanctioning countries that continue to buy Iranian oil.