Angolan state-owned oil giant Sonangol has pulled out of Iran due to stringent new sanctions imposed on the Middle Eastern state, a report has claimed.

Sonangol board member Mateus Morais de Brito said it had become “unsustainable” for the company to operate in Iran as the international community tries to hamper Iran’s perceived nuclear weapons programme, Reuters reported.

"We are out of Iran… Nowadays it has become unsustainable for us to develop technical and operational activities in Iran due to this matter of the sanctions," the news wire reported de Brito as saying at a news conference in Luanda.

Sonangol had a 20% stake in the monster $7.8 billion Phase 12 development of the South Pars gas field off Iran, one of the largest even developments on the field.

Last weekend Iran reacted angrily by moves by European countries to cut off oil imports from July by itself axing exports to France and the UK.

The new round of sanctions imposed recently is in response to Iran’s continued nuclear programme which Tehran argues is for peaceful, civilian use only.

Source: Upstream Online