AFP, Rome, 29 Dec 2011 – A diplomatic coalition of ‘like-minded countries’ is in favour of sanctions on Iranian oil exports but Italy wants an exception for its oil major ENI, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Thursday.
Monti said Italy had hosted three rounds of international negotiations on the issue including the most recent one last week in which officials from 11 countries and the European Union agreed on the need for further sanctions.
‘Everyone agreed on the urgency of strengthening instruments of pressure on Iran to begin reducing Iran’s revenues from crude oil exports, which are financing the nuclear and missile programme,’ Monti said at a press conference.
‘This position is shared by Italy, which imports 13 percent of its crude oil from Iran, with the only condition that the embargo should not include imports that do not give Iran additional financial resources,’ he said.
Monti was referring to oil that ENI receives in lieu of debt repayments from the National Iranian Oil Company. ENI earlier this month estimated that it is still owed around $2.0 billion (1.6 billion euros) in oil shipments by Iran.
The talks at the Italian foreign ministry on December 20 included high-level representatives of Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
The initiative to hold the meetings came from the US, Monti said.
‘A strong concern emerged that the advancement of the Iranian nuclear programme is about to reach the point of no return,’ Monti told reporters.
‘If this happens, the dual track strategy for Iran of sanctions and potential incentives would turn out to have been inefficient,’ he said.