Iran's Oil Ministry spokesman calls the new European Union threat to boycott Iranian gas imports, a �propaganda campaign� against the nation, stressing that right now�Iran�doesn't�supply the EU with natural gas.

Iran's Oil Ministry spokesman Alireza Nikzad Rahbar made the marks in response to EU diplomats' recent threat to�ban imports of Iranian gas as part of a set of new measures�to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic republic over its controversial nuclear program.

In an attempt to find fresh ways to pressure Tehran into scaling back its nuclear program, diplomats from EU member states have started preparing a package of sanctions against Iran, Reuters reported on October 4.

EU diplomats have�reached�a preliminary agreement on banning gas imports, one of a package of measures which also consists of various finance and energy-related proposals. The sanctions are said to be adopted at a meeting of foreign ministers on October the 15th in Luxembourg and it is backed by big states of the region namely Germany, Britain and France.

"The new EU threat is just a propaganda maneuvering and will never take place since they (the EU members) can never make themselves politically dependent on the other countries,"�Alireza Nikzad Rahbar said.

Referring to Iran's rich gas reserves, Nikzad Rahbar said such a ban would inflict more serious damage on the European countries, since by depriving themselves of the rich resources of the Iran's gas, they increase their dependence on other sources and this would threaten the energy security of the whole continent.

Stressing that right now Iran�doesn't�supply the EU members with natural gas, Oil Ministry spokesman said Iran only exports gas to�Turkey�which is not the member of the European Union.

Given the fact that Turkey wants to diversify its required gas supplies to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, this country was likely to ignore the ban, Nikzad Rahbar added.

The EU diplomats was quoted as saying that there was a risk the bloc's plans to tighten sanctions could alienate Turkey, which has a pivotal role in the European Commission's aspirations to diversify gas supplies away from dominant supplier Russia. Moreover, diplomatic sources said "There are two possibilities. Either Turkey goes with it or Turkey maintains imports silently."

On the other hand, Iran has increased the volume of gas exports to Turkeyto 30 million cubic meters (mcm) per day as a blast halted gas exports from Azerbaijan to Turkey, Majid Boujarzadeh, the National Iranian Gas Company's spokesman was quoted as saying on Saturday. Boujarzadeh also said that Iran has no limitation for exports to Turkey if the country demands more gas.

In the meantime, Seyed Mehdi Mousavi Nejad, a member of the Majlis Energy Commission affirmed that many countries are waiting to buy gas from Iran and our country has no problem selling its gas to them.
Islamic Republic of Iran, having 33 trillion cubic meters of gas, holds the world's second largest reserves of both oil and gas.