Last Updated: April 05, 2002 07:10 AM ET
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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Arab states on Friday to launch a "symbolic" one-month oil embargo against Western countries to pressure them to stop supporting Israel.
"Arab governments can use oil as a weapon. They can cut off the flow of oil to all the countries which have good ties with Israel," Khamenei said in a sermon during the Muslim Friday prayers in Tehran.
"I am not saying to cut it forever, just for one month in a symbolic way. If they (Western countries) do not receive oil, their factories will come to a halt. This will shake the world," he said.
As the most powerful political figure in Iran, Khamenei has the final say on all state affairs. But he is rarely involved in detailed political and economic policy-making, which is handled by more moderate President Mohammad Khatami.
Khamenei stopped short of calling for his country to initiate an oil embargo against the West, a prospect already rejected by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.
"This is not a decision that one country alone can make for itself. It has to be a collective decision for it to be effective," Kharrazi, a close ally of President Khatami, said on Thursday, during a visit to Moscow.
Leading Arab oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have both rejected the idea of an embargo first raised by Iraq on Monday.
Non-Arab Iran, the second largest crude oil producer, has tried to cultivate closer ties with fellow OPEC members in order to boost its position in the cartel and assure stronger prices.
It is unlikely, analysts say, that Iran would take any action to alienate new friends such as Saudi Arabia and risk rivalries which could lead to turmoil in the oil market.
Oil earnings account for 80 percent of Iran's hard currency income and any sharp price falls could further hurt the troubled Iranian economy.
Perhaps with such fears in mind, Khamenei did not call for a fully-fledged oil war against the West as Iranian hard-liners have done in the past.
"Arab governments should take a leading role on the embargo. They have everything to gain from this. It is in their own interest. It is one of the things they can do to make a difference," he said.
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