Iranian oil firms threaten legal action against EU sanctions
Iran's private oil firms plan to sue the European Union (EU) over the sanctions imposed by the bloc on the Islamic Republic's oil industry, the country's FARS News Agency (FNA) has reported.
The sanctions are affecting 30 governmental and private companies, it reported, with an unnamed source saying the legal action would commence "soon."
"At present a number of private oil companies which are on the list (of the EU's boycotted companies) are busy with projects in foreign states and a large part of their income comes from abroad," the source told FNA.
"Therefore, such companies are after numerous solutions to continue their activities, one of which is filing lawsuits at the international courts and solving the issue through legal ways," they added.
The news follows Monday's announcement by the Council of the European Union that they had agreed to "significantly broadened EU restrictive measures" against Iran that include a number of further restrictions for the maritime, oil, and petrochemical industries.
Earlier EU sanctions effective July 1, 2012 meant ship owners found carrying Iranian product, either as fuel or cargos, would lose their P&I cover.
The sanctions by the Union, as well those by the U.S., are in response to what the Council says are "serious and deepening concerns over Iran's nuclear programme," believing the nation is trying to develop nuclear weapons, something which it denies.
Iran has so far played down the impact of the sanctions, with the country's officials being quoted by Iranian press as saying they are "futile and ineffective," while Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday quoted the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying they "are hitting the Iranian economy hard," but added that they "still have not rolled back the nuclear program."