“It is a lie that Americans tell the people of the world that Saudi Arabia and some other countries’ oil would replace the Iranian oil,” Jahangiri said in a speech in Tehran on Sunday.
There is no replacement for Iran’s oil, he said, adding that the Islamic Republic is among the largest oil-producing countries in the world.
The first vice-president further pointed to the global oil prices and said currently, the price is about 80 dollars per barrel and Iran is still selling its crude.
Jahangiri went on to say that if the US had been able to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero, oil prices would have topped $100.
Back in May, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite objections from other signatories of the accord.
In August, Washington re-imposed the first round of anti-Iran sanctions it had lifted under the JCPOA. The second phase of US bans will come into effect next month.
The Trump administration has called on all buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero. Earlier this month, oil prices hit a four-year high, with the international benchmark Brent topping $86 per barrel.