"Iran ranks the fourth in the world with its over 110bln barrels of oil reserves, but it has defined an economy not much based on the oil price since nonoil exports have special a position in it," member of the parliament's Development Commission Abbas Fallah told FNA on Monday.
He also reiterated the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf for the world energy market, and said everyday 18mln barrels of oil pass through the waterway which is under Iran's control and the country is able to close it whenever necessary.
An EU embargo on Iranian oil went into effect on July 1. Tehran has repeatedly cautioned that such measures will hurt talks with world powers over its nuclear program.
Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the oil-rich Persian Gulf if its nuclear program is targeted by air strikes that Israel and the United States reserve as an option.
Situated between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz is a passageway for 40% of the world's oil production, including much of the crude extracted in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this month, the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament drafted a bill requiring the government to stop all oil tankers shipping oil for those countries which support the US and EU sanctions against Iran's oil sales.
Then, a senior Iranian legislator announced that the parliament plans to invite Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili as well as a number of foreign ministry and military officials to confer on a draft bill on closing the Strait of Hormuz to those tankers shipping crude to the countries that support sanctions against Iran.
"In order to study the bill on the blockading of the Strait of Hormuz better and more precisely, the SNSC secretary and a number of officials from the foreign ministry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces will be invited to the parliament and their views and proposals will be used," Seyed Mehdi Moussavinejad, one of the lawmakers who has signed the draft bill, told FNA.
"The parliament should take an all-around and insightful decision on the Strait of Hormuz and defend the rights of the Iranian nation without any reservations," he added.
Moussavinejad also announced that the draft bill of the parliament which requires the government to close the Strait of Hormuz to those tankers shipping oil to the supporters of sanctions against Iran will be submitted to the parliament's Presiding Board late July to be put on parliament's agenda with double-urgency to go under further discussions by all lawmakers.
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A prominent Iranian lawmaker underscored Iran's capability to easily survive the western oil sanctions, saying that the country enjoys many strong points to counter the embargos.
News ID 182261
