Athens to hold talks with Iran on gas exports

The issue was raised after the Turkish government announced its official agreement to transit the Iranian gas to Europe. The new development came after the failure of negotiations on the construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline which prompted some European companies to officially ask for importing Iran's natural gas. The Nabucco pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline which starts from Turkey's Erzurum to end in Austria's Baumgarten an der March and aims to reduce Europe's gas dependence on Russia. This is while Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi confirmed in April that the country has halted oil supplies to Greece. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony to inaugurate a petrochemical unit on Tuesday morning, Qassemi pointed to Iran's move to halt oil exports to a number of European states, and announced, "Right now, Iran's oil is not exported to Greece." The minister further said that European states have imposed sanctions on Iran's oil sector since years ago, and stressed that these sanctions have left no impacts on Iran and failed to hinder Iranian oil industry's progress and might. Iran stopped deliveries to Greek refiners Hellenic Petroleum and Motor Oil a few days ago due to unpaid bills. Greece has long been the European Union country relying the most on Iranian oil - sometimes for as much as a third of its supplies. A spokesman for Motor Oil confirmed the cut of Iranian oil supplies.