Official: Sanctions on Iran’s Petrochemical Industry A Total Failure

Head of Iran’s most profitable petrochemical plant said foreign sanctions on the country’s petrochemical industry have ended in complete failure.

In remarks on Monday, CEO of the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company Jafar Rabiee highlighted the futility of the foreign sanctions that were aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports down to zero and eliminating the Iranian petrochemicals from the world market.

“None of those objectives (against Iran) were accomplished,” he said, stressing that the sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry have ended in complete failure.

However, he added, the sanctions caused some trouble and costs for the petrochemical industry activists.

“We identified the problems caused by the sanctions in the petrochemical industry, such as the maritime transportation and currency transaction, found solutions to each one, and overcame the problems,” he added.

In May, Managing Director of Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Behzad Mohammadi unveiled plans for a big rise in the production of petrochemicals, saying the annual income from domestic petrochemical output is expected to hit $25 billion within the next two years.

In August 2018, NPC officials said Iran’s petrochemical industry was “unsanctionable” and that the exports would continue on schedule despite the US sanctions.

Washington imposed new sanctions on Tehran after withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018.

Last month, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the country was on the verge of the second leap in the petrochemical industry that would increase the annual output to above 100 million tons, adding that a third leap was expected to further raise the production capacity of the country’s petrochemical industry to more than 150 million tons.