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Iran says in ‘safe zone’ in face of sanctions with high oil prices

Iran says it has no concerns over the potential impacts of returning US sanctions on its oil exports.

Iran says it has no concerns over the potential impacts of returning US sanctions on its oil exports given that it is already selling its crude oil higher than the price tag it has set in its annual budget plan.

Iran’s First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said Iran was selling its oil at above $80 per barrel, adding that the country would be economically safe even if the sanctions slashed its oil sales by half. 

The budget law for the current Iranian year was devised based on assumptions that the country would sell its oil at $55 per barrel. 

Jahangiri said that Iran had been able to find new clients for its oil, adding that negotiations had also been held with old clients to find ways around the sanctions.

“It is not strange that countries that are sanctioned find ways to dodge the sanctions,” he was quoted as telling a local forum by Iran’s IRNA news agency.

“The Americans should know that a country which is sanctioned would still be able to find solutions to move forward.”  

Jahangiri said US President Donald Trump was wrong to think that Saudi Arabia and certain other countries would be able to replace Iran in global markets and prevent oil prices from rising.

He said a price shock was highly expected once the sanctions against Iran’s oil exports return.

The official further rejected the claim by US officials that Iran’s oil exports would be brought to a complete halt.

“They cannot do this because various mechanisms have been discovered to maintain Iran’s oil exports,” Jahangiri emphasized, adding that private companies as well as domestic enterprises had already taken steps toward the same direction.  

Iran’s first vice president further said the same countries that had announced they would stop purchasing Iran’s oil as a result of the sanctions were already looking for way to maintain their purchases through intermediaries.

Nevertheless, Jahangiri emphasized, Iran still needed to increase its sources of revenue given that a certain portion of revenues could be lost as a result of the sanctions.


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