Iran says ready for any possible gasoline sanction

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran is prepared to deal with any possible sanctions on its imports of gasoline that world powers might impose over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said on Wednesday.

While Iran is the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, it still has to import up to 40 percent of its gasoline supplies as it lacks the refining capacity to meet domestic demand. The United States and its European allies may target fuel imports if Tehran refuses to enter talks over its nuclear programme.

"We are ready to deal with any possible gasoline sanction ... We have stocked relatively enough gasoline and also we have signed deals with some countries to purchase gasoline," Mirkazemi told reporters, state television reported.

The West suspects Iran aims to make nuclear bombs, while Tehran insists it needs atomic fuel to generate electricity.

U.S. sanctions against suppliers of fuel to Iran would drive up the price the Islamic Republic has to pay for imports and provide a big money-making opportunity for oil traders able to flout the measures.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday rejected as "impossible" imposing sanctions on Iran's gasoline imports, urging the Oil Ministry to build refineries more quickly to make the country self-sufficient in gasoline production, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran last week handed over a package of proposals to world powers in which it said it was willing to address global nuclear disarmament and other international issues.

The Islamic state has agreed to meet on October 1 with the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia, as well as Germany.

The meeting is a move toward U.S. President Barack Obama's pledge to try to adopt a policy of engagement toward Iran. Tehran and Washington cut diplomatic ties shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah.

Iran has agreed to wide-ranging talks with the six world powers but has ruled out discussing its nuclear activities. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that the talks must address the nuclear issue.

When asked about Iran's package of proposals, Ahmadinejad was quoted by IRNA as saying: "The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to continue its (nuclear) path firmly. Iran will not yield to global arrogance's (U.S. and its European allies) pressures (to abandon its activities)."

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jon Hemming)