France rewords ban on Iran oil imports

PRESS TV - France has reworded the contents of an earlier announcement to ban Iranian oil imports, saying the measure is to be taken in coordination with its allies, Press TV reports.

The French Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it would bring the unilateral national ban into force due to the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities, a Press TV correspondent reported. 

"The interruption of Iranian oil purchases is among the measures proposed by France to its partners,” the ministry said in a statement published on its official website, adding that, “We will apply this at a national level.” 

The statement, however, was later “clarified,” when the ministry further noted that “the decision at a national level will be in coordination with our European partners.” 

EU purchases are said to account for 18 percent of the oil purchases from Iran, with Italy and France respectively buying 450,000 and 20,000 barrels per day from the Islamic Republic. 

The announcement came after a November 8 report by Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano posed questions regarding Iran's nuclear program. 

Later on November 18, the IAEA Board of Governors adopted a controversial US-sponsored resolution against the program that was strongly refuted by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member nations. 

Tehran has dismissed the report as “unbalanced, unprofessional, and prepared with political motivation and under political pressure by mostly the United States." 

As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, Iran says it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. 

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence of diversion in the country's civilian nuclear program.