TEHRAN: Tehran will cut oil exports to more EU nations if they remain “hostile,” the deputy oil minister who heads Iran’s state oil company said Monday, a day after sales were halted to France and Britain.

Exports to Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands would be stopped, Ahmad Qalebani said, quoted by Mehr news agency.

“Certainly if the hostile actions of some European countries continue, the export of oil to these countries will be cut,” said Qalebani, who runs the National Iranian Oil Company.

He added: “In the current market situation, the price per barrel [of oil] will probably reach $150.”

Qalebani also said any country wanting Iranian oil would be required to sign “long-term contracts.”

European companies, Qalebani added, would be held to “two- to five-year contracts with no preconditions.”

Iran exports about 20 percent of its crude – some 600,000 barrels per day – to the European Union, most of which goes to Italy, Spain and Greece.

The Oil Ministry announced Monday that it had halted exports to France and Britain.

That was in apparent retaliation for an EU-wide ban on Iranian oil that is to come fully into effect on July 1 as part of Western sanctions against Tehran’s nuclear program.

Although the ministry’s measure was largely symbolic – France imports only around 3 percent of its oil from Iran, and Britain less than 1 percent – prices for crude soared on fears Tehran could expand its cuts to other European nations.

Paris played down Iran’s decision to halt oil exports to France.

The country’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the decision had little effect as French oil companies had already halted purchases of Iranian oil under European Union sanctions passed last month.

Ministry spokesman Vincent Floreani said the sanctions aim to persuade “Iran to resume negotiations on its nuclear program” – and respond to international concerns.

Iran has been threatening for weeks to cut all oil exports to Europe because of the EU ban, but has thus far held off. Ceasing all exports to the European Union would harm its own economy unless it had Asian buyers ready to pick up the contracts.

According to the International Energy Agency, Italy sourced 13 percent of its oil, or 185,000 barrels per day, from Iran, while Spain imported 12 percent of its oil needs, or 161,000 bpd, and Greece bought 30 percent of its needs, or 103,000 bpd.

Iran, OPEC’s second-biggest exporter after Saudi Arabia, pumps 3.5 million bpd, of which it exports 2.5 million bpd.

Seventy percent of the Iranian exports go to Asian countries, especially China and India.

Last Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry held individual meetings with the ambassadors of France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain to explain to them that the Islamic Republic “will revise” oil sales to their countries.

The European Commission responded by saying that, even if Iran did cut its sales to the European Union, it would make little difference as EU buyers were already switching suppliers, particularly toward Saudi Arabia.

The European Union shares U.S. fears that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, despite Tehran’s repeated denials.

It has said it will proceed with its total embargo on Iranian oil in July if the Islamic Republic does not yield on its atomic program.

“According to industry sources, the leading European oil companies have slashed their March oil imports from Iran by more than 300,000 barrels per day. This is prompting additional demand for alternative oil types and is thus causing prices to rise,” Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said.

Iran has reacted furiously to a promise by Saudi Arabia – a U.S. ally and longtime rival in the Middle East – that it will step in to pump more oil to compensate for any loss to the market from curbed Iranian exports.

Such a move would be viewed as “unfriendly,” the Islamic Republic warned.