TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran's oil minister said Monday the U.S. will not succeed in its plans to halt Iranian crude exports even as he acknowledged that South Korea has stopped buying oil from Tehran.
The website of Iran's oil ministry, Shana.ir, quotes Bijan Zangeneh as saying the "U.S. dream of getting Iran's oil exports (effectively) to zero won't come true."
Zangeneh said such a plan isn't possible long-term, though Washington seems determined to cut Iran's crude exports, "even if for just a month."
However, he did say that Seoul hasn't bought any Iranian crude "for three continuous months."
President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May. Washington wants to reduce Iran's oil exports effectively to zero with renewed sanctions in November and has been encouraging its allies to cut their oil imports from Iran.
It's unclear, however, how much other countries will cut back on Iranian oil imports. Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, which also signed the nuclear deal, opposed the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from it. European countries are trying to salvage the landmark accord.
Zangeneh also welcomed the outcome of a meeting Sunday between OPEC members and the organization’s allies, which ended without any decision to further increase oil output despite Trump's call for lower prices.
Zangeneh said no country gave a positive answer to Trump and that this can be considered a "heavy defeat" for the U.S. president.
OPEC members and leading non-OPEC producer, Russia, on Sunday ruled out any additional increase in crude output, dealing a blow to Trump's re-election ambitions.
Trump, whose decision to leave an international nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions on the country has pushed oil prices to levels not seen since 2014, on Thursday demanded that OPEC members lower the prices.
"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember," Trump tweeted.
His demand came after benchmark Brent oil reached $80 a barrel this month, despite his earlier assurances that U.S. curbs on Iran's oil exports would not affect the market because Saudi Arabia would make up for the shortage.
"The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" Trump wrote on Sunday.
Before the Sunday meeting, Zangeneh had warned fellow OPEC members against any effort to appease the U.S., saying Tehran would veto any decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that would harm Iran's national interests.
On Monday, he expressed hope that producers would not yield to Trump’s "orders” to turn the taps on.
The Iranian minister has said an agreement reached in 2016 between OPEC member states and allied producers to cut output was "in tatters".
Zangeneh did not attend the Joint OPEC/Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) held in Algeria on Sunday. He had stated that any decision on a new production deal by the committee would be "void” and "invalid.”
OPEC's decision is seen as another victory for Iran which had also warned of two OPEC members seeking to damage the group and carry out "anti-Iranian policies” at the behest of the U.S., apparently referring to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.