Iran to Defeat US Policies against Tehran’s Crude Exports

Zangeneh said on Tuesday during an energy conference in Tehran that Iran would not allow the sanctions to leave a serious impact on the country's oil and gas industry.

“We have to resist and not allow a handful of people to usurp the rights of the Iranian nation and put us under pressure,” said Zangeneh, adding, “We have all learned how to resist during difficult conditions.”

The minister said Iran’s oil industry had become accustomed to a cycle of deadly sanctions that repeats itself once every few years.

However, he said that Iran had managed to offset those deadly blows through a better use of the country’s private sector in the oil and gas industry.

Zangeneh said oil was still an engine for development in Iran despite government's continued efforts to diversify the economy away from crude exports.

He said Iran and other countries in the Persian Gulf region had a huge potential for growth in oil and gas industry despite a major change that has occurred in the world’s “geography of oil”.

“No one had expected that the United States would become the largest oil producer in the world. A country that was the largest importer...” said Zangeneh.

Last Wednesday, Zangeneh condemned Washington’s unilateral and unlawful interventions against Tehran and Caracas’ crude supply, and urged the world not to let the energy market be politicized.

Speaking upon arrival in Moscow for a meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), Zangeneh said that the energy market must not be politicized in order to prevent the US unilateral and unlawful interventions.

Last Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that it's “impossible” for Ankara to stop purchasing oil and natural gas from Tehran, suggesting that Turkey will disregard a raft of US sanctions now imposed on Iran’s energy sector.

Last month, Deputy Director for Development and Engineering Affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Reza Dehqan said that his country is steadily developing its oil and gas projects, reminding that Washington’s sanctions are nothing new to Tehran.

Two days earlier, Zanganeh had underlined ineffectiveness of the US sanctions on Iran's capability to export its crude, saying that pressures have backfired and accelerated development of his country's oil industry.

In relevant remarks earlier in September, Iranian Government Spokesman Ali Rabiyee had also downplayed the effects of US sanctions against his country, stressing that Iran had many options for exporting its crude.

"Despite the espionage acts by Israel and the US, I clearly declare that we sell our oil as much as we need through planning," Rabiyee said.

He explained that Iran has 15 neighbors and is located in a region with many opportunities, and added, "We will be able to sell our oil through different methods and fortunately, there is good progress in advancing oil discoveries and plans."