Iran's Oil Ministry has refuted media reports on the country stopping its crude exports to six EU nations on Wednesday.
"We deny this report… If such a decision is made, it will be announced by Iran's Supreme National Security Council," a spokesman for the ministry told Reuters.
The European Commission has "absolutely no information" about the news and will check it, said the spokesman for Foreign Policy, Michael Mann.
The initial news from Tehran nonetheless sent Brent crude prices up nearly $2 a barrel to $119.28, hitting a six-month high.
Earlier, Iran’s state Press TV reported that Tehran had corked crude supplies to Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, France and the Netherlands. That would have fulfilled Iran's threat to retaliate for the EU’s oil embargo, agreed by the bloc in January.
The ambassadors of the six EU countries were summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to be notified on the oil cut, says the Press TV. Other media reported that while Iran declared its intentions to the envoys, the actual halt in oil supplies was delayed for some time.
Out of the six countries listed by Wednesday’s report, Italy, Spain and Greece account for up to 68 per cent of Iranian oil consumed in Europe. Half of Spanish and a third of Greek oil imports come from that country. The Spanish ambassador to Iran has voiced concerns that Tehran’s preemptive oil action would deliver a heavy blow to Madrid’s staggering economy.