The US and the UK say if Iran does not comply with the UN Security Council's Friday deadline to stop uranium enrichment, they will seek a resolution that would make the demand compulsory. Iran has consistently resisted calls to abandon its enrichment program.
Oil exports account for half of Iran's GDP, so it is not in the country's own interest to halt supplies, Gheit said. However, if Iran is attacked, they might be left with no choice. "The only weapon they can use is oil," Gheit said.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria, militants exploded a car bomb inside a military base late on Wednesday, in their first major attack since February. This year, the group has cut more than 20 percent of Nigeria's daily oil exports of 2.5 million barrels.
A spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Co in Nigeria on Friday said that security concerns in the region were preventing the restart of up to a fifth of its oil output and the company was not in a hurry to start up production.
RSS