MP: Replacing Iran’s oil exports in global market a political bluff

The notion that other countries can replace sanctions-hit Iranian oil in the global market is a political bluff, said an Iranian lawmaker, adding Saudi Arabia is not technically capable of compensating Iranian oil supplies reduced through sanctions.

Hossein Amiri Khamkani, the vice president of the Iranian Parliament’s Energy Committee, added Iran’s oil exports will never be stopped, adding although undoubtedly, the country’s overseas sales will not be reduced to zero, the drop in its oil sales will have its impacts on the international market, Shana reported.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and P5+1 in July 2015, and reimposed, in two rounds, the White House’s unilateral sanctions on Tehran.

The second round of sanctions mainly targeting Iran’s oil exports officially went into effect on November 5.

Calling for ensuring stability in domestic economy, turning sanctions into opportunities and diversifying and raising Iran’s non-oil exports, he noted that US sanctions on Iran’s oil sector will fail to create any specific problem for Iran.

“The US failure to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero will be a success for Iran and the international community in the face of the Trump administration.”

He said that sanctions exemptions granted by the US to eight importers of Iranian oil indicate the White House’s failure to achieve its targets.

“During the past 40 years, we have been witness to different kinds of sanctions imposed on the country. The problems they create have become more or less a commonplace issue for the country. At times, these sanctions have been turned into opportunities leading to great advances in different [domestic] sectors, including the industrial one, and strategic self-sufficiency.”