Zero Iranian Oil Exports Out of Question: Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said since Saudi Arabia has acknowledged that it cannot replace the reduced share of the Islamic Republic in global oil markets, the US plot to cut Iran’s crude exports to zero is not going to happen.
“Saudi Arabia’s oil minister admitted to important facts yesterday and said it (Riyadh) could not replace (lost) Iranian oil,” Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday evening.
The Saudi minister also did not rule out the possibility that oil prices could increase to a three-digit number, Zanganeh added.
The Iranian oil minister further emphasized that cutting the country’s crude exports down to zero is not possible.
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.
