Iran appears defiant on the issue of oil exports despite the US sanctions

Tabnak – The new round of US sanctions against Iran, due to take effect since November 4, is aimed primarily at targeting Iran’s oil exports and to reduce it to zero. However, not only Iran emphasizes that it won’t cease oil exports, its main rival at the oil market, namely Saudi Arabia, is also of the same opinion.

In this vein, Saudi energy minister says his country would not be able to compensate for possible oil disappearance from global markets once the US re-imposes its sanctions against Iran.

Speaking in a Monday interview with Russian news agency TASS, Khalid al-Falih said Saudi Arabia will have to use its oil reserves if it wants to cover 3 million barrels per day of oil loss from Iran. However, he added, there is no guarantee that oil prices would not go higher once anti-Iran sanctions come into force in early November.

Al-Falih’s remarks flatly contradicted those by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who claimed earlier this month that his country has “already replaced” Iranian crude lost to the US sanctions.

The Saudi energy minister’s comments came shortly after his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Zanganeh, said Saudi Arabia and Russia cannot replace Iran’s oil as the two countries’ production capacity has reached its peak.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Zanganeh pointed to recent fluctuations in oil prices and said, “As long as the US seeks to impose sanctions on the oil (exports) of Iran as one of the world’s largest oil suppliers, the market turmoil will continue.”

Highlighting Iran’s “steady and stable supply of oil to customers”, he stressed that no country has “the capacity to provide a replacement for the Iranian oil in the world’s demanding market.” The fluctuations in the global oil market will continue until sanctions on Iranian oil sales are lifted, Zanganeh said, adding, “Iran’s oil exports are unstoppable.”

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said the country has launched talks with other nations and already formulated the necessary mechanisms to foil the US attempts at bringing Iran’s oil exports to zero with new sanctions.

“I believe that our (oil) exports could continue at a suitable level and…Trump cannot reach his objective,” he told reporters at a weekly press conference in Tehran on October 15.

Iran, the third-largest producer of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has blamed US President Donald Trump for oil price hikes, but the US president has pointed the finger at OPEC and called on the oil-producing body to boost output.

The US president wants the Saudis to raise their oil output to prevent prices from spiking ahead of midterm elections on November 6, potentially undermining the kingdom’s place among two dozen oil-producing nations which may think Riyadh is doing Washington's bidding at their expense.