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Iran illegally supplies israel with oil { April 8 2008 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Business/?id=1.0.2050535158http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Business/?id=1.0.2050535158
Iran: Tehran sending oil to Israel, says Israeli newsletter
April 8, 2008
Tel Aviv, 8 April (AKI) - Iran is selling oil to its long-time foe Israel , according to a report in the Israeli industry newsletter, EnergiaNews.
But Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, director of international marketing at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), strongly denied allegations that the country's oil exports were reaching Israel.
According to the newsletter, the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company was founded in Israel in 1968 with Iranian and Israeli capital, to manage oil purchases destined to a refinery in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
At the time, Iran was among the biggest suppliers of oil to Israel when both countries enjoyed close diplomatic relations.
Despite a sharp deterioration in relations after Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979 and ongoing inflammatory exchanges, Israel has continued to import Iranian oil, according to the EnergiaNews report.
The report claims Iran's oil is bought by Israelis after it reaches the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, and from there it is transported to the Israeli port city of Haifa.
Israel reportedly prefers the quality of Iranian oil as it is believed to be of higher quality than the oil produced by many Arab and Latin American countries.
Ghanimifard strenuously denied the claims and threatened legal action against anyone found to be exporting Iranian oil to Israel.
"In all our oil-supply contracts, there is a clause that says it is forbidden for our oil and gas to end up in Israel," said Fard in an interview with the Iranian website Shana which specialises in energy information.
"If we discover that a third country exports to Israel, we will begin a legal process."
However in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), the editor of Israeli-based EnergiaNews newsletter, Moshe Shalev, confirmed the report, adding that Iranian oil is regularly purchased from EAPC in the Rotterdam market.
Shalev did not want to reveal the name of the company or the country that exports the oil to Israel from Iran.
On Monday, Israel's minister for infrastructure, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said an Iranian attack on Israel would provoke a response that would result in the destruction of Iran.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said in the past that Israel must be "wiped-off the map".
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