Iran denies oil threat over UN referral
Foreign Desk Report

TEHRAN—Iran’s presidential office denied on Sunday the president had given an interview to a Gulf paper which quoted him as saying Tehran may hold back on oil sales if its nuclear program is referred to the U.N. Security Council. The Khaleej Times from the United Arab Emirates on Saturday quoted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying OPEC’s second biggest crude exporter could wield the oil weapon if Tehran’s case was sent to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
“The presidential office has denied that Ahmadinejad had any interview with the Khaleej Times from the United Arab Emirates,” said a statement from the presidential office. A Khaleej Times statement said it had received the interview from a freelance journalist who expressed surprise at Ahmadinejad’s denial. But it would not confirm or deny the content of the story. The Iranian statement did not specifically deny Ahmadinejad had made the oil threat to a reporter who he may not have known wrote stories for the Khaleej Times. However, a spokesman for the presidential office said the statement was intended to convey the idea that Ahmadinejad had also been misquoted on an oil threat.
Washington accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons while Iran insists it wants a nuclear program only to run atomic power stations. The Khaleej Times said the freelance correspondent had given them the exclusive interview. “The confusion must have occurred because on the several occasions she met or got in touch with him (president) she presented herself as a reporter with the American-based Arabic News, and not as a Khaleej Times reporter,” the paper said. Iran also denied a major interview last year, accusing the Arabic language Al Jazeera channel of misquoting then Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani on a threat to launch pre-emptive strikes if Iran’s nuclear facilities were threatened.
A Dubai-based newspaper said Sunday it stands by a story in which it quoted Iran’s president as saying he might curtail oil sales if his nation is referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program. However, the Khaleej Times acknowledged that the confusion might have arisen because the reporter, a freelance journalist, told the president she was working for another paper. After the story quoting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared Saturday, the president’s office issued a statement saying he “never had an interview, either oral or written” with the newspaper. On Sunday, the Khaleej Times acknowledged that the confusion might have arisen because the reporter, a freelance journalist, told the president she was working for another paper. The newspaper said the reporter on several occasions “presented herself (to Ahmadinejad) as a reporter with the American-based Arabic News, and not as a Khaleej Times reporter, though she has given this report exclusively to Khaleej Times.” The paper’s editor, Prem Chandran, told press: “We support what we published.”
The paper said that in the interview, Ahmadinejad was asked about last month’s resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which warned Iran it would be referred to the Security Council unless it allayed fears about its nuclear program. Iran insists its nuclear program is for energy purposes, while the United States suspects Iran is trying to build atomic bombs. “If Iran’s case is sent to the Security Council, we will respond by many ways, for example, by holding back on oil sales or limiting inspections of our nuclear facilities,” Ahmadinejad said, according to the newspaper.
The president’s office responded by saying “such a claim is nothing more than a mere fabrication,” according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran pumps about 4 million barrels daily, making it the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. Crude oil exports normally account for about 80 percent of Iran’s hard currency income, and an oil official last month projected revenues from oil exports this year at $43 billion.