Iran’s president says despite the economic war launched by the administration of US President Donald Trump against Tehran, Washington has failed in its efforts to shrink the Islamic Republic’s oil exports to zero.
Addressing the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Hassan Rouhani noted that the economic war has caused many problems for the Iranian oil and petrochemical exports, but “Trump’s wish for shrinking Iran’s oil exports to zero never came true.”
Rouhani further emphasized the necessity of working to increase the Iranian oil output, saying, “Due to sanctions imposed on Iran before the conclusion of the JCPOA, the production and sale of oil became limited.”
Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum, he added, will take all necessary measures to prepare the oil industry equipment and facilities to boost Iran’s oil export and sales within the next three months.
US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and later reimposed sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran on the back of the deal.
On October 26, the US administration imposed a fresh round of sanctions on a number of Iranian individuals and entities affiliated with the Islamic Republic’s oil sector, including Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh.
The Iranian petroleum minister said on November 9 that the latest wave of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, which targets the oil sector, has no practical effect and stems from Washington’s grudge toward Tehran.
A Reuters report late September showed that Iranian oil exports had risen sharply in September in defiance of US sanctions.
According to Reuters, data from TankerTrackers and two other firms indicated exports are rising in September, although the figures fall into a wide range of between 400,000 bpd and 1.5 million bpd, reflecting the difficulty in tracking the shipments.