Iran halts oil supplies to the UK and France

Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said today, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran’s crucial fuel exports.

A statement posted on the ministry’s shana.ir website gave no other details, but it follows a flurry of contradictory signals by Iran about a backlash against the EU for imposing a boycott on Iranian oil beginning in July.