In remarks released on Saturday, Rabiee highlighted the significance of Iran’s
oil exports and said the issue is important to the country.
"In any event, we sell our oil and the world cannot go without our oil,” he
added.
"(Our) experience shows that various sanctions have failed to stop our oil sales
and we will succeed in this area,” the minister said.
Earlier this week, an Iranian oil ministry official told Tasnim that US efforts
to cut Iran oil exports will remain futile since removing the country's crude
and condensate from global market is not an easy task in near future.
"This big claim (of cutting Iran oil supply) is not feasible because last month
Iran exported 2.8 million barrels of crude oil and condensate per day,” the
informed official at Iran oil ministry said in response to a senior US State
Department official who said the Donald Trump administration is ramping up
pressure on allies to cut off funding to Iran.
Reuters had earlier reported that the United States has told countries to cut
all imports of Iranian oil from November.
"Yes, we are asking them to go to zero,” the US official said when asked if the
United States was pushing allies, including China and India, to cut oil imports
to zero by November.
In reply, the Iranian oil ministry official said some European companies such as
Shell and Total have stopped buying Iranian oil over the past few weeks but Iran
is still exporting oil to Europe, Asia, and elsewhere in the world.
Asked about Iran’s reaction in case of the implementation of the US plan, the
official said, "Iran is prepared for worst-case scenarios.”
He added, "The most pessimistic scenarios have been predicted in Iran's oil sale
plans, and each scenario has an operational alternative....”
The Iranian oil ministry official also reacted to a possible operationalization
of a US decision to fill gap in oil market, and said, "Unlike what US officials
think, there is no surplus capacity for Saudi Arabia, the UAE and others to
supply oil for a long term.”
Source: Tasnim