Rising World Protests Against Israel
"Iran is prepared to stop oil exports to the countries which back Israel but this will prove effective only if other countries follow suit," he told IRNA.
"Fortunately, we are not the only (people) who support Palestinians. Rather, the whole world, even Jews in the occupied lands and Tel Aviv, back Palestinians and express their hatred toward the Zionist policies of the Israeli occupiers," Karrubi added.
The Iranian parliament speaker stressed that global support for Palestinians was key to force the Zionist Israeli regime of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to tone down some of its hardline policies.
Also, Oil Ministry Spokesman Akbar Nematollahi said on Tuesday that Iran will halt oil supplies to countries with ties to Israel "at the appropriate time".
Nematollahi was referring to a call Friday by Leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, to Arab and Muslim oil producers for such a move against "the West and countries which have relations with Israel" in support of the Palestinians.
"The Oil Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to follow the clear stance of the Leader to support the oppressed Palestinian people by a one-month oil boycott against the allies of the Zionist regime and the United States and implement it at the appropriate time," Nematollahi told journalists.
Meanwhile, on Monday Libya announced its support for the oil embargo against Israel and its supporters.
Libya will impose an oil embargo against Israel'a allies if other Arab and Islamic oil producing countries accept Tehran's proposal.
Also, European Union President Spain said on Monday it might convene an urgent meeting to discuss slapping trade sanctions on Israel if the Jewish state continued its military offensive in the West Bank.
Diplomats said there was no consensus within the 15-nation bloc for sanctions but the EU was at least threatening to use one of the few tools it has to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Suspension of Israel's preferred trade status with the EU would be more than just a diplomatic blow -- European markets account for some 40 percent of Israeli trade.
European Commission President Romano Prodi raised the trade threat earlier on Monday, and the person with the authority to call the meeting -- Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique -- later said it would depend on Israel's actions.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) sees no urgent need to boost output in response to Iraq's decision to suspend oil exports for 30 days, an OPEC source said Tuesday.
"There is no urgency to act," he said. "The market does not need an immediate reaction from us. "There is no reason to panic. The doom and gloom scenario predicted is not being enacted."
Oil prices surged immediately after the Iraqi announcement on Monday but have since eased, with traders predicting that the one-month interruption will not have major repercussions on the market.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced the export suspension to protest the Israeli military thrust into the West Bank and the backing it received from the United States.
Also, ****Tishrin, ****the Syrian government paper, called on the Arabs on Tuesday to use oil as a political weapon in the Arab-Israeli conflict, without mentioning Iraq's decision Monday to implement a 30-day oil embargo.
"What prevents the Arabs from using the (economic) and oil boycott weapon (..) against countries that call themselves friends but at the same time support the Zionist aggression", asked ****Tishrin.*****
"Western companies especially Americans must understand that they can no longer steal Arab wealth and make enormous profits, while their governments continue their support to Israeli executioners who massacre innocents and take over their lands", continued the Syrian daily.
Also, Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum said Tuesday that the United Nations should approve the use of force to halt Israel's "butchery" of Palestinians as it has done to save other threatened populations".
"The Security Council had recourse to Article Seven (of the UN charter) against Iraq when it invaded Kuwait, against Indonesia to protect the people of East Timor, against Yugoslavia to protect the people of Bosnia and Kosovo," Sheikh Mohammad said in a statement to AFP.
"Why does it not implement Article Seven against Israel which is butchering Palestinians?" asked the crown prince, who is also defense minister of the United Arab Emirates.
The UN charter authorizes recourse to force to implement Security Council resolutions.
He called on Arab countries to impose economic sanctions on Israel.
Also, the U.S. secretary of energy in reaction to Iraq's oil embargo said such an action would cause an increase in price of goods in the United States and would lead to the economic recession.
According to CNN radio, the American official said the U.S. government is concerned about increase of oil output.
He added that U.S. economic recession will affect the workers' situation and Washington is very worried about the issue.
According to another report, for the first time ever, Germany has imposed a weapons export embargo on Israel, the daily ****Financial Times Deutschland**** (FTD) reported in Berlin Tuesday.
The Israeli Defense Ministry has confirmed that Germany's National Security Council had not approved any arms export permits for the last three months, FTD was quoted as saying.
The German government refused on Monday to provide concrete information on the arms embargo against the Jewish state.
"Approval for arms are decided on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration legal stipulations and the current situation in the region," a German Economics Ministry spokeswoman told DPA.
Germany has halted some 120 security-related exports, among them components for the Israeli Merkava 4 tank which is being used in the brutal Israeli repression of Palestinians in the autonomous territories.
According to the latest arms export report of the German government, released last November, Israel ranked seventh in the list of arms exporting countries which receive German military hardware.