Royal
Dutch Shell has stopped selling gasoline to
Iran
,
the company confirmed Wednesday, adding to a list of oil giants that have
stopped sales after a threat of future
U.S.
sanctions.
Royal Dutch Shell
said it had no official announcement beyond the confirmation, but according to
someone with knowledge of the situation the company ceased gas sales to
Iran
sometime in 2009.
"Shell
is currently not selling gasoline to
Iran
,"
a Shell spokesman said, but he would not comment on whether the decision was
related to talk of possible
U.S.
sanctions on Iranian gasoline imports.
Concerns have grown over
Iran
's
nuclear program, and last month the Senate
passed a bill
that would allow President Obama to expand sanctions against
Iran
to pressure the republic into dropping its plans.
Iran
says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but some fear the
country wants to develop nuclear weapons. Under the Senate bill, Obama could
impose new sanctions that would ban most direct imports and exports between
Iran
and the
United
States
.
"If there was new legislation or
sanctions, obviously we would comply with them as we would for any
country," the Shell spokesman said.
The House passed its own sanctions bill
last year, and in order to become law the two bills would have to be merged and
approved by both bodies before going to Obama for his signature.
According to Reuters, Shell shipped about
1.65 million barrels of gasoline into
Iran
from April through October 2009.
In a State Department briefing, spokesman
P.J. Crowley said the agency would continue "to move forward with
prospective sanctions, and I expect you'll see this advance over the next
several weeks."
Crowley
added: "We are looking for countries and companies to be
supportive as we try to find the right formula to put economic and political
pressure on
Iran
to change its course."
(from
CNN)