Following Iran’s announcement that it has stopped export of crude oil to France and Britain, oil prices soared on Monday to over $105 per barrel that is the highest in 9 months. Due to Presidents Day holiday on Monday, markets throughout the United States were closed. In electronic trading benchmark March crude rose by $2.02 to $105.26 a barrel.
Analysts said that Iran’s decision will not have any significant influence on supplies. Britain imports less than 1% from Iran while France imports less than 3 % of its oil from the Islamic republic. However the price escalation reflects concerns regarding increase in deteriorating relations between the West and Iran.
The ban is not important for Iran either, but it attracts world attention and results in increased oil prices throughout the world. Iran’s move is seen as an obvious retaliation against the 27-nation EU following the European Union’s ban on Iran’s fuel exports with effect from July.
The European Union’s sanctions, together with other penalizing measures by the United States, are part of Western attempts to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. Iran constantly denies the charges, and maintains that its program is only for peaceful purposes and it has no intention of producing nuclear weapons.
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