Iran has stopped oil and gas exports to EU countries in what it calls a “pre-emptive sanction”, ahead of tightening Western trade policies against the Islamic Republic.

Oil Ministry spokesman Alireza Rahbar told Iran’s Mehr News agency that exports of crude have been increased to other countries, but sales to the EU have been banned due to its “hostile decisions against Iran until further notice”.

The EU stopped importing crude from Iran in July 2012 in line with US-backed sanctions against Iran’s financial and oil sectors. On 22 December 2012, the 27-member bloc implemented further sanctions targeting specific products and sectors and tightening controls on transactions with Iranian citizens.

“Despite many requests by EU countries on buying oil and gas from Iran, Iran will not sell any oil and gas to those countries,” said Rahbar.

Before halting imports, the EU represented about 19 per cent of Iranian crude exports. Oil producers group Opec and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have both reported that Iran’s crude exports dropped to about 1 million barrels a day (b/d) by the end of 2012, compared with 2.4 million b/d a year earlier.

Earlier this week Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) said it had started to import condensate from Qatar in a bid to replace existing supply it sources from Iran.