Iran downplays impact of U.S. sanction threats on oil exports

Source: Xinhua | 2018-07-09

Iranian Petroleum Ministry announced Sunday that there has been no major change in Iran's production and export of crude oil despite U.S. sanction threats.

Iran has plans to counter U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to stop Iran's oil sales, and "the plans are working successfully," Press TV quoted Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh as saying on Sunday.

The Iranian minister also criticized Trump's pressure on Saudi Arabia to increase its supplies and said such efforts would destabilize oil market.

The governing principles in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would never allow such political pressures to change the directions of the market, he said.

Besides, the anti-Iran efforts by the U.S. president are largely to blame for the high oil prices in international markets, he added.