ENI SpA’s chief executive said yesterday that the Italian energy company will pull out of Iran after current contracts to develop two gas fields there run out, amidst international pressure to isolate the country over its highly controversial nuclear program.

Paolo Scaroni also said the company plans to raise around euro1.5 billion from selling off shares in three gas pipelines in order to settle a European Union antitrust dispute.

He told reporters that the company won’t prolong contracts it signed in 2001 to develop two Iranian gas fields. Iran has the world’s second largest gas resources after Russia and has resisted global pressure – including U.S. sanctions – over its program to enrich uranium. Iran says its program is peaceful but the U.S. says it suspects Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons.

“We will continue to abstain in the future,” Scaroni told reporters.

Italy has long enjoyed strong commercial ties with Iran. But President Silvio Berlusconi this week called for tighter sanctions against Iran and said Italian companies have cut business ties with Iran by a third since 2007. The Italian government owns about 30 percent of ENI.

German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said last week that it will also stop doing business in Iran by the middle of 2010. European banks such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group have all previously pulled out of Iran.

The U.S., Britain and France are jointly pressing for more United Nations sanctions against Iran to get it to drop its nuclear ambitions. Iran’s hardline government is also worrying Western powers with Wednesday’s satellite launch, part of a space program that could build long-range missiles.

ENI is Italy’s biggest oil and gas company. It sells gas directly to customers and also transports gas into Italy for its own supplies and for rivals. In this case, one of the highest links in the economic-hegemonic chain has sent a clear message to the ruling regime.