In a Wednesday interview, Alireza Nikzad pointed to the latest requests by some European countries for purchasing the Iranian crude and noted, “At present, Iran’s oil export priority is given to the countries which cooperated with us during crisis.”
Nikzad pointed out that Iran has rejected the European countries’ request for purchasing the Iranian oil, adding, “Iran is currently adopting a clever policy in the oil market.”
The Iranian energy official stated that Iran plans to remain a reliable and long-term energy supplier for different countries, particularly in the Southeast and East Asia.
Referring to the West’s embargoes against Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program, he added, “Despite all these sanctions, the European countries have expressed astonishment at the technological progress and indigenous production of most of the products and equipment in Iran’s oil industry.”
Nikzad pointed to the new study by Petroleum Intelligence Weekly which ranks the National Iranian Oil Company as the world’s second largest oil firm after Saudi Arabia's Aramco, and argued that such status for Iran unmasks the futility of the West’s embargoes against Iranian oil industry.
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union (EU) imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors.
On October 15, the EU foreign ministers agreed on another round of sanctions against Iran.
The illegal US-engineered sanctions have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
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