Iran’s Oil Exports Unstoppable: Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh shrugged off US plans to drive the country’s crude exports down to zero, saying the Islamic Republic’s oil exports cannot be stopped.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Zanganeh pointed to recent fluctuations in oil prices and said, “As long as the US seeks to impose sanctions on the oil (exports) of Iran as one of the world’s largest oil suppliers, the market turmoil will continue.”
Highlighting Iran’s “steady and stable supply of oil to customers”, he stressed that no country has “the capacity to provide a replacement for the Iranian oil in the world’s demanding market.”
The fluctuations in the global oil market will continue until sanctions on Iranian oil sales are lifted, Zanganeh said, adding, “Iran’s oil exports are unstoppable.”
In relevant remarks earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the country has launched talks with other nations and already formulated the necessary mechanisms to foil the US attempts at bringing Iran’s oil exports to zero with new sanctions.
“I believe that our (oil) exports could continue at a suitable level and…Trump cannot reach his objective,” he told reporters at a weekly press conference in Tehran on October 15.
On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), and announced plans for new sanctions against Tehran.
The White House has also announced plans to get as many countries as possible down to zero Iranian oil imports and launch a campaign of “maximum economic and diplomatic pressure” on Iran.