(Bloomberg) - Japan will work with other countries to urge Iran to discontinue its uranium enrichment program, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said.
``Japan will need to cooperate with the international community to firmly tell Iran it needs to ease global concerns'' over its enrichment program, Abe said at a regular news conference in Tokyo today.
Oil traded near a seven-month high in New York on concern supplies from Iran, the world's fourth-biggest producer, may be disrupted by a confrontation over its nuclear program. Iranian scientists enriched a supply of uranium to 3.5 percent, a level enough to produce nuclear fuels, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, who runs Iran's nuclear program, said yesterday. A weapon requires enrichment of almost 100 percent.
Abe added that oil prices are rising because of concerns over Iran as well as limited production capacity.
Crude oil for May delivery rose 1 cent to $69.00 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:12 a.m. Singapore time. Prices today are 33 percent higher than a year ago.