Mr Rostam Qasemi oil minister of Iran has shrugged off the US engineered European Union embargoes on the Iranian oil sector saying that the Islamic Republic is completely prepared to counter the sanctions.

Mr Qasemi said that “Iran's oil has its own markets, and, to counter the sanctions all potential options have been worked out by the government. The sanctions against Iran's oil have existed for many years, stressing that it would be wrong to consider that the sanctions started as of Sunday.

He emphasized that Iran is still selling its oil in the international markets and a part of the oil sales to Europe had been cut by Iran ahead of the sanctions taking effect.

Mr Qasemi also stated that sanctions have no effect on the development of Iran's oil industry. We are selling oil to those European customers with whom we had interactions since a long time ago, some of whom had participated in the development of oil projects as well as] many countries with a high economic growth and developing countries.

The minister noted that Iran's oil sales to Europe constituted only 18% of the total sales before the sanctions and said it does not seem difficult to substitute customers for this much of sales because there are currently countries that have applied for buying Iran's oil.

He warned those who have imposed the oil sanctions on Iran and stated that we have repeatedly said you shouldn't politicize the oil market because the citizens of those countries that impose the embargoes will be hit the hardest.

Mr Qasemi described as irrational and illegal the bid to impose sanctions on Iran and said that the oil sanctions on Iran were not imposed by the United Nations and that only a handful of countries moved to impose the sanctions due to their irrational demands. He emphasized though that the Islamic Republic would pursue the issue through international bodies.

Source - Agencies

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