In New York, Zarif clarifies Iran’s position on the new American oil bans

Tabnak – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has travelled to New York to attend a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Iran’s top diplomat has used the opportunity to clarify Tehran’s positions on the latest round of US pressures, represented in its new attempts to stop Iran’s oil exports.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran will do its utmost to export oil after the US tightened its sanctions against the country, stressing that the Islamic Republic — which has been the target of cruel American bans for decades — has gained much experience in going around such restrictive measures.

Zarif said in an exclusive interview with Reuters on Wednesday that Washington’s sanctions hurt ordinary Iranians, but that the government would do whatever it could to sell oil to provide for its citizens. “I mean there are always ways of going around the sanctions. We have a PhD in that area,” he told Reuters during his trip to New York.

Asked who else Iran might consider exporting oil to, Zarif replied, “If I told you, we won’t be able to sell it to them.”

Also in another vent at the Asia Society in New York on Wednesday, Zarif warned the US against any measure to prevent Tehran from using the Strait of Hormuz as a safe transit passage for the sale of its oil.

The “Persian Gulf is our lifeline … so stability of [the] Persian Gulf, freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf, [and] free flow of oil in the Persian Gulf [are] in our vital national security interest,” he said.

“We guarantee [the security and stability of the Persian Gulf] as long as it is in our national security interest. If we are prevented from using [the] Persian Gulf for our national security, then why should we guarantee it?” he added, noting, “If the United States takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that, then it should be prepared for the consequences.”

The top Iranian diplomat reiterated that Iran will continue to find buyers for its oil despite the US declared bid to cut Iranian oil imports to zero.

“We believe that Iran will continue to sell its oil. We will continue to find buyers for oil and we will continue to use the Strait of Hormuz as a safe transit passage for the sale of our oil. That is our intention and that is what we believe will happen,” he said.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has said it seeks to stop Iranian oil sales by imposing sanctions on countries that continue purchasing Iranian crude after May 1.

In May last year, Washington unilaterally withdrew from a multilateral deal with Iran that mainly guarantees Iran’s oil sales in return for a number of concessions by Iran and the lifting of US sanctions on the country.