Iran's Deputy Oil Minister says Iran has weathered US sanctions for decades and the country's oil sector remains unharmed by these sanctions.

Even though US sanctions have imposed some costs on Iran's oil and gas projects, they have failed to bring them to a halt as Iran keeps producing and exporting oil and gas to the international markets, said Akbar Torkan in an interview with Fars News Agency.

It is in fact the US companies that sustain the greatest loss from these sanctions, he added.

As the world's second largest producer of oil, Iran is ideally positioned to successfully counteract all US attempts at isolating it, Torkan noted.

Since early 2007, the US has prohibited the American companies and banks from doing business with Iran.

Last week, a high-ranking official in the US State Department claimed that ratcheting up economic pressure on Iran would result in the country's further isolation.

US officials are ignoring the fact that Iran has managed to establish extensive economic and trade relations with the majority of countries in the world and faces no major problem in meeting its needs in all fields.

MMM/GM