Iran says its oil exports have doubled since August despite US sanctions
Iran is exporting twice as much oil as it did in August last year, despite US sanctions, its president has claimed.
“Oil sales have doubled,” Ebrahim Raisi said during a live interview on state-run TV. “We are not worried about oil sales.”
Mr Raisi’s comments on Monday come as international markets continue to seek alternatives to Russian crude.
This follows Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and ensuing western sanctions.
Iran’s crude, which has a similar composition to Russia’s grade, can compete on the global oil market where, as a result of the war and supply concerns, prices have surged.
International benchmark Brent crude nearly touched $140 a barrel in March, increasing the challenge of enforcing sanctions. Brent was trading above $105 a barrel on Monday, AP reported.
This oil windfall has been a boon to Iran’s struggling public finances. Tehran says it is now selling billions of dollars more crude than before, despite US sanctions.
Iran’s central bank issued statistics at the start of February claiming it made $18.6 billion in oil sales in the first half of the Persian calendar year, compared to $8.5bn during the same period last year. Much of that oil is believed to be for China. Venezuela has also received Iranian tankers at its ports.
Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji told local media in April that the country’s oil exports had surged by 40 per cent since Mr Raisi took office last August.
Four years ago, Donald Trump, US president at the time, pulled his country from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and imposed sanctions on Tehran, including its critical oil sector.
Crude exports plummeted and international oil companies scrapped deals with Iran, further weakening the country’s economy.
The nuclear deal had imposed limits on Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions – including those aimed at its oil sales.
Negotiations in Vienna on restoring the deal nearly reached completion in early March, but talks have stalled.
Negotiators have yet to reconvene in the Austrian capital.
The EU co-ordinator for the Vienna talks, Enrique Mora, is expected to visit Tehran this week in an effort to break the deadlock.
Iran has made its sanctions-hit oil industry a core issue in the talks, with the aim of reaching the point where Iranian oil can be sold easily and without any barriers.