Iran's oil minister said on Sunday, Jan 29, that oil sales to "some countries" would be halted soon, amid pressure from the parliament that the government should pre-empt a looming European embargo, Financial Times reported.

"Iran has a market for its oil exports even with cuts [in sales] to Europe and will face no problem in this regard," Rostam Ghasemi told local journalists.

But the Iranian parliament failed to pass a proposed law over the weekend that would have banned oil exports to the European Union, apparently because of differences between the legislative body and the government of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad.

Some Iranian parliamentarians said last week that the legislative body would pass such a law on Sunday in order to halt abruptly its oil sales to the European Union.

The export ban would have deprived European states of the time they need to find substitute sources of oil, and would probably have hit the economically weak countries of southern Europe.

Emad Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian parliament's energy committee, said consultations were being held with concerned officials in the government, "to see where we stand and in what situation the contracts are."

The European Union approved a ban on oil imports from Iran last Monday but delayed its full implementation until July 1. The deadline was intended to give Greece, Spain and Italy enough time to find alternative supplies from other oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq.