Despite increased pressure from Washington to halt the sales by attempting to capture Iranian oil tankers, Iran’s oil minister, Javad Owji, claims that Iran has managed to expand its oil sales and collect all of the revenues.
Despite grim forecasts made by former oil minister Bijan Zanganeh, Owji stated the administration of President Ebrahim Raeisi has used all at its disposal to export Iranian oil and grow the country’s oil sales in an interview with Fars news agency published on Friday.
He refuted assertions that the Biden administration had lifted sanctions on Iran, claiming that the US has become more active on the opposite.
“Not only has the enemy not eased its sanctions, but it has also made them worse by going after Iranian ships and trying to capture our ships in order to prevent a jump in Iran’s oil exports,” he stated.
Owji recalled he had told IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif that as the Ministry of Petroleum is focused on producing and selling the country’s oil, the IRGC should take on the task of providing security for the shipments.
“In only one or two cases the Americans’ acts of aggression against the ships carrying Iranian oil were covered by the media, but several other cases were not. Fortunately, the armed forces, especially the IRGC Navy, did not allow the enemy to succeed,” he said.
“We took oil to the places the Americans cannot even think of,” he added.
Last year, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy released a video depicting Iranian commandos landing on the deck of a tanker that had captured an Iranian oil shipment in a “act of piracy.” They then steered the ship into Iranian waters.
The incident occurred on October 25, during talks in Vienna to lift US anti-Iran sanctions and bring the US into full compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The US withdrew from the agreement in 2018 in order to pursue a confrontational posture against Iran, which it dubbed the “maximum pressure” campaign.
Owji continued, “Both the level of Iran’s oil output and the profits collected have improved dramatically since the commencement of the Raeisi administration in mid-2021.”
He claimed that Tehran has already received all of the proceeds from its oil sales, indicating a 2.5 percent gain over the previous year.
“The situation has improved not only in oil but also gas exports,” Owji said. “Last year, Iran sold a total of $1.27 billion worth of gas, but this year it has exported more than $4.6 billion worth of gas and has fully received its money.”
“In the field of petrochemicals, the country’s foreign exchange earnings have doubled. In the field of oil products, the country’s revenues have increased 1.5 times. In total, revenues from oil, gas condensate, petrochemical products, oil products, and gas exports have increased 2.5 times.”
