“By imposing the recent sanctions [on Iran's oil sector by the West], the world will reach the conclusion that the absence of part of Iran's oil exports will have a serious impact on increasing oil prices,” Qasemi said on Wednesday.
He added that sanctions and pressures exerted on the Islamic Republic by the West have caused no major problem for the Iranian oil sector because Iran’s oil is supplied to international markets and the country has its permanent customers.
The Iranian minister further argued that the oil prices in the global market are not yet real and their increase will depend on the future developments in the oil market.
Considering the existing conditions in the international oil market, prices are expected to rise in the winter as energy consumption rises, Qasemi noted.
At the beginning of 2012, the US and the European Union (EU) approved new sanctions against Iran's oil and financial sectors to prevent other countries from purchasing the Iranian oil or transacting with the Central Bank of Iran.
Washington and the EU have declared that the bans are meant to force Iran to abandon its nuclear energy program, which they claim to include a military component.
Iran has vehemently refuted the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to use the nuclear technology for peaceful objectives.
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