PARIS (voa) – Major oil-producing nations are rejecting an Iraqi proposal to stop exporting oil to the United States as a way of pressuring it to back away from support of Israel.
Iraq said Tuesday it was ready to halt delivery of crude oil to the United States jointly with Iran and any other Muslim country. But Saudi Arabian foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, told the French newspaper Le Monde that there is no question of Arab states withholding exports.
Indonesia’s Justice Minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, calls the idea “impossible,” and Kuwait has rejected it as well.
Iran responded cautiously to the Iraqi proposal, saying it would “consider” using oil as a weapon. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said the embargo would be highly effective if all Muslim countries agreed to take part.
Tuesday, fears of an oil embargo drove crude oil prices to a six-month high. But prices fell slightly Wednesday.
The last time Arab countries used oil as a political weapon was 1973, when reduced exports caused a worldwide energy crisis and sent the U.S. economy into a deep recession.
The United States has since built up a large strategic oil reserve to dilute the impact of such an embargo.
