REPORT ON GASOLINE CUT TO IRAN INCORRECT, SAYS MALAYSIAN PM

From Tham Choy Lin

NEW YORK, April 17 (Bernama) -- Foreign newsreports quoting Najib
Tun Razak as saying that Malaysia had cut off gasoline supplies to Iran are incorrect, the prime minister said.

The Prime Minister said Petronas was involved in a spot sale to Iran in mid
March under a third party deal but since then there had been no requests.

"It is not correct, it was not a decison taken by Petronas per se. It
involved a spot sale and there was no requirement anymore, so they don't do it
(anymore)," he told Malaysian reporters on Friday.

"It is a third party deal that was done in mid-March, not now. I was a bit
surprised, a lot of noise has been made out of this thing," said Najib who is on
the final day of his week-long visit to Washington and New York.

Najib said the transaction was purely commercial and if there were further
requests for spot sales, it would be up to the parties involved.

News reports had linked the halt in sales to the international pressure on
Iran over its nuclear programme and to the run-up to the Nuclear Security Summit
held in Washington last week during which Najib had a bilateral meeting with
President Barack Obama for the first time.

Najib had said earlier that Iran had the right to use nuclear for peaceful
purposes but Malaysia would not support Iran's nuclear weapon programme.

-- BERNAMA



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