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News ID: 58562
Publish Date : 15 October 2018 - 21:52

Official: U.S. Still Aims to Zero Iran Oil Exports



PARIS (Dispatches) -- The United States still aims to cut Iran’s oil sales to zero, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.
U.S. special envoy for Iran Brian Hook was talking to reporters after a visit to India, a major importer of Iranian oil, and talks with officials from France, Britain and Germany before the start of a new round of U.S. sanctions on Nov. 4 targeting Iran’s energy sector and financial transactions.
The three European countries have been trying to save the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and multiple global powers since U.S. President Donald Trump announced in May that the United States would withdraw from the pact.
In a conference call from Luxembourg, where Hook was meeting European officials, he said the U.S. goal is for countries to cut imports of Iranian oil to zero as quickly as possible
"We are working with countries that are reducing their imports to ensure that this happens,” he said.
Hook declined to answer questions on possible waivers on sanctions for countries that are reducing their imports or whether the United States would target the SWIFT international payments messaging system.
Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has said its oil exports cannot be halted because of high demand in the market.
"Stopping Iran’s oil export is impractical,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told a weekly news conference on Monday. "Certainly, America will not achieve its goal ... our oil exports will continue.”
Iran pumped 3.45 million barrels per day in September, OPEC said last week, down 150,000 bpd from August. Production dropped below 2.7 million bpd under previous sanctions that were lifted following the 2015 nuclear deal.
Hook also said European efforts to create a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) for trade, including oil, with Tehran by November would struggle to gain traction.
"That vehicle sends the wrong message at the wrong time,” he said. "From what we’ve seen this SPV seems to want to create supply but we don’t see much demand for it when you look at well over 100 companies that have already made clear they are leaving.”
Iran on Sunday played down the impact of looming U.S. sanctions on its economy with a senior official saying that the current high oil prices should make up for any fall in oil sales.
"One of the things that the U.S. didn't want to happen but did, was increase in oil prices. The US president thinks that Saudi Arabia and other countries are capable of preventing oil prices from going up by replacing Iran's oil," Vice President Es’hagh Jahangiri was quoted as saying by IRNA.
"But you see that even without the sanctions [having started], Iran's oil has reached over $80/b. It means that if we export half of what we used to in the past, we will earn as much," Jahangiri said in a speech.
In the first five months the current Iranian year, from March 22-August 22, Iran's income from selling crude and oil products reached Rials 538.8 trillion ($12.89 billion), up 62.4% on the year, IRNA reported quoting central bank data. And this is despite Iran selling lower volumes in the current year than in preceding one.
Iran has sold Rials 422.3 trillion worth of crude oil in the five-month period, up Rials 78.7 trillion on the year.
The value of oil products and gas condensates sold, have, however, fallen by around 36% on the year to Rials 43.2 trillion in the five months, Central Bank data showed.
Jahangiri said that Iran had found ways to work around the looming sanctions.
"The Americans have claimed that they want to bring down Iran's oil exports to zero, but they can't do it because various methods have been found. Private sector and domestic companies have come forward," he said.
"Even though some of Iran's oil buyers stopped purchasing from us in the recent months ..., we could find new partners to sell our oil to," he said, adding that Iran was also in talks with its traditional customers to find ways to continue the trade.
Iran's foreign minister Muhammad Javad Zarif has said that Europe, which used to take 40% of the country's exports, would come up with an "oil agreement" to work around the sanctions.