Iran will pursue a strategy of full crude manufacturing if the United States raises sanctions against the country’s oil industry.
Iran will embrace a strategy of full crude manufacturing if the United States raises sanctions against the country’s oil industry, Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Saturday.
“Maximum output would be the strategy of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum in case (US) sanctions are relaxed against Iran’s oil industry,” said SHANA, the formal media outlet of the Ministry.
Since the end of Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world forces last year, US President Donald Trump has re-imposed sanctions on Iran. It has also implemented other restrictions, including threats of sanctions against any nation importing oil from Iran, leading to a fall of over 80 percent in oil exports by the OPEC member.
“Our petroleum industry is alive, active, and the US sanctions can not prevent Iran’s oil exports,” Zanganeh said.
Trump followed a strategy of “peak stress” on Iran to push it into wider discussions to limit its ballistic missile program and end its help for proxy powers in the Middle East.
But Iran has ruled out discussions until all sanctions placed on it have been lifted. The European parties to the agreement have attempted to calm the deepening conflict between Iran and the United States.
Sanctions affecting Iran’s crude
Iran’s crude petroleum sales were cut by over 80% because of the re-imposed penalties by the United States following President Donald Trump’s departure from Iran’s 2015 atomic agreement with world forces last year.
“We will bring stress on Iran and, as President (Trump) has said, there will be no waiver of any kind of Iranian oil,” said Sigal Mandelker, U.S. Treasury Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
Mandelker added that Iran’s oil sales had taken a “severe tail dive” for US stress.
Since ditching the nuclear deal, calling it skewed to Iran’s advantage, Trump has reimposed sanctions to strangle its vital oil trade and force Tehran to accept stricter limits on its nuclear activity, curb its ballistic missile programme and end its support for proxy forces around the Middle East.
Source: India Today
