The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran and U.S. officials say they aim to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero in a bid to curb the Islamic Republic’s missile program and regional influence.
“US IS NOT ABLE TO STOP OIL EXPORTS”
“America should know that we are selling our oil and will continue to sell our oil and they are not able to stop our oil exports,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech during a trip to the northern Iranian city of Shahroud. “If one day they want to prevent the export of Iran’s oil, then no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf,” he added.
Tensions have risen between Iran and the United States after US President Donald Trump withdrew from a multilateral nuclear deal in May and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Rouhani said the US would not succeed in cutting Iran’s economic ties with the region and the world.
Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri also said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions were hitting vulnerable people in Iran. “When Americans say their target is the Iranian government and there won’t be pressure on the sick, the elderly and the weak in society, it’s a lie,” Jahangiri said, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.