Iran denies crude oil to Greece: local media

 　　TEHRAN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran has refused to deliver oil to Greece in Persian Gulf¹, the local Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

　　The Islamic republic refused to deliver a shipment of 500,000 barrels of crude oil to one of the refineries² in Greece, according to Fars.

　　"Oil tankers³ which had moved to the shipment place to transfer 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil to one of the refineries in Greece went back barehanded as Iran refused to deliver the shipment," said Fars without providing further details including the time of the crude denial.

　　Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said last Tuesday that Iran would cut its oil exports to the European Union (EU) countries if its conditions were not met.

　　"Those (EU) countries which do not finalize⁴ long-term oil- purchase contracts with Iran will be treated like Britain and France," Qasemi said referring to its newly launched oil sales ban to the two EU powers.

　　Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Ahmad Qalebani said last Monday that the Islamic republic would possibly cut its oil exports to six other European countries, including Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.

　　Iran announced last week that it had stopped oil exports to British and French companies and called on other EU buyers to extend their oil contracts with Iran to two to five years.

　　Qalebani also said that "for sure, if the hostile measures of some other European countries are continued, the oil exports to these countries will be stopped."

　　If the EU states stop "the hostile measures," Iran was ready to renew its oil contracts with those countries, said Qalebani, who is also managing director of National Iranian Oil Company.

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

3 tankers   

运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 )； 油轮； 罐车； 油槽车

参考例句：

• They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
• The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。

4 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。