Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said the achievement was a blow to those who wished to stop Iran’s petroleum exports.
“Our exports of oil products set a record in the history of our oil industry during the time we were under sanctions,” he said.
“Our enemies as well as Trump were seeking to destroy us. They wanted to bring our exports to zero, but it didn’t happen. Neither our non-oil exports, nor our exports of oil and oil products reached zero. … So, their intention of making Iran’s oil exports reach zero boomeranged on them,” he added.
“I cannot announce the figures now, but their intention backfired, and efforts by our colleagues not only kept Iran’s oil exports from reaching zero, but resulted in considerable figures,” the minister explained.
“They, including Trump, Pompeo and their criminal thoughts, died and were thrown into the dustbin of history, but we are alive, we are here, and will help build our country with more hope,” the oil minister said.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Zangeneh said Iran, during the past three years when it has been under sanctions, made every attempt to make investments in the oil industry.
“Over the past two or three years, we had serious shortage of resources for investment. So, many of our investment programs were delayed. But we tried to keep moving through methods such as attracting resources from the capital market in order to protect the country’s resources and keep them from being wasted,” he noted.
