Iran’s Oil Exports on Rise Despite US Sanctions: Official

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the weekly meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday, Abdolnaser Hemmati said the Americans have done whatever in their power to exert pressure on Iran.

According to Hemmati, the export of oil is on the rise and the US sanctions have failed to depress the market. “Today, we see stability in the market.”

“The current situation of the forex market reveals that the Iranian nation doesn’t care anymore about the sanctions. Today, the market is not in chaos any further. People have come to this conclusion that the enemies have done whatever in their power to exert pressure on Iran,” he said.

The governor of the CBI also touched on the European financial mechanism aimed at normalizing economic ties with Iran following the US unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and said, “It’s been a while that the Europeans claim they are still working on the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges but in practice no tangible development has unfolded yet.”

Hemmati also said there have been some meetings between Iran and the Europeans on the INSTEX and the two sides exchanged some related documents. “But the main issue is that as far as no resource is exchanged within the INSTEX, there would be no benefit for Iran.”

He underlined that when there is no export to Europe, there would be no import either.

“If Iran is provided with a line of credit, the implementation of INSTEX would be accomplished in less than a week,” he concluded.