Iran stops fuel supply for Western airliners: daily

TEHRAN, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Iran stop the fuel supply for some Western airliners to retaliate their refusal to fuel Iranian aircrafts at their airports, the English-language Iran Daily reported Wednesday.

"Recently, fuel supply for Iranian passenger planes flying to Europe was stopped (by the Europeans). Now the question is, if they have problems with the Iranian government, why do they deprive the people of their rights," Rahimi was quoted as saying.

"Iran decided immediately to strike back and banned supply of fuel to Western passenger planes landing in Iran," he said when addressing a ceremony held here Tuesday.

The economic sanctions imposed on Iran had not produced the results desired by the West and the country had not suffered from the mounting pressures and sanctions, Rahimi said.

"The (Iranian) nation does not fear sanctions and can easily overcome the problems. The only thing is that those who have imposed these sanctions are being disgraced," he added.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned last week against the refusal of fuel supply by some countries and said Iran would take action against such moves, the daily said.

In October, Managing Director of the Iranian Airlines Farhad Parvaresh blamed certain fuel suppliers for refusing to fuel Iranian passenger planes at some European airports.

The Islamic republic had filed complaints for international arbitration and the issue had been referred to the International Court of Justice in Hague, Parvaresh was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/13/c_13827337.htm.