Iraq has said it is halting oil exports for the next month in protest against Israel's military campaign in Palestinian areas. President Saddam Hussein said Baghdad would decide its next move in 30 days' time or when Israel withdrew unconditionally. Oil prices surged to more than $27 a barrel after the declaration. Iraq currently exports about two million barrels crude a day under a United Nations programme permitted as an exception to Gulf War sanctions. The Iraqi move comes only days after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Islamic oil-producing countries to suspend exports to "pro-Israel" Western states.

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