“The country’s oil exports have not decreased,” said the minister in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on Tuesday afternoon.
The Iranian oil minister also refuted other reports which claim that some 30 million barrels of the Iranian oil have been left in limbo.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that the country’s crude continues to have many customers worldwide, despite the Western sanctions on its oil sector.
The US and the European Union (EU) imposed new financial sanctions as well as oil embargoes against Iran earlier this year, under the baseless allegation that Tehran’s nuclear energy program may include a military component.
On January 23, the EU approved new embargoes that are meant to prevent its member states from buying the Iranian crude or doing business with its central bank. The sanctions will come into force as of July 1.
The embargo also bans the European companies from transporting, purchasing or insuring crude and fuel originating in Iran and intended for anywhere in the world.
Tehran refutes such allegations, noting that the frequent inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency have never found any diversion in the country’s nuclear energy program toward military purposes.
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Publish Date: 16 May 2012 - 11:11
Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has dismissed some recent reports which claim that the Islamic Republic’s oil exports have decreased by 6 percent.