The leader of financially struggling Italy questioned the scope and timing of a possible European Union halt to Iranian oil purchases, raising an obstacle to stiffer sanctions on Iran’s nuclear activities.
Penalties set to be announced on Jan. 30 should be phased in and exempt crude sold by Iran to pay off debts to Eni SpA (ENI), Italy’s largest oil company, Prime Minister Mario Monti said.
“An oil embargo is conceivable as long as it remains gradual and excludes the deliveries that serve to reimburse the billion euros in debts that Iran owes to Eni, our national company,” Monti told France’s Le Figaro in an interview published today.
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