No US government can stop Iranian oil exports

The Cradle, June 19, 2024 — 

Despite hundreds of unilateral sanctions targeting Iran’s oil products, exports have jumped by over 1.4 million barrels over three years.

Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji said on 19 June that no US governing body can deter Iran’s oil exports, noting that sales soared in the past few years.

“Despite more than 600 new sanctions on the export of oil and petrochemical products, today, we are witnessing a jump in the export of oil and collection of the country’s arrears,” Owji said during a plenary session at the Islamic Republic’s Parliament.

Owji said that Iran’s oil production increased by more than 1.4 million barrels thanks to consistent work and tireless efforts over the past three years. He noted that the amount of oil Iran is exporting has tripled compared to 2020. He added that foreign exchange revenue has also jumped.

“With the measures taken by the government in the field of the oil industry and the preparations made in the field of exporting oil and agricultural products, I must announce that any administration assuming office in the United States cannot hinder the Islamic Republic of Iran’s oil export and production,” Owji said.

The oil minister said that at the start of the current administration in 2020, Iran’s daily output was 2.1 million barrels and that the national oil export was at its lowest rate in 10 years.

“We had about 87 million barrels of oil aboard tankers at sea,” Owji said, “of which 30 million were heavy and extra heavy crude. We had no sales in heavy and extra heavy oil at the beginning of the 13th administration.”

He praised the late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi as being crucial for the sale of oil and gas resources without the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

“The 13th government without JCPOA and FATF, and under its smart, robust, and active diplomacy, was able to pave the way for the sale of oil and gas,” he said. “Today, crude oil and gas condensate shipments are exported to many countries, and at the apex of the sanctions, we do not even have one cent in arrears.”

It was previously reported that Iran’s oil exports had reached $35.8 billion over the past 12 months. Iran’s head of Customs, Mohammad Rezvanifar, noted upon releasing those numbers that Iran’s oil exports are seeing a 2.6 percent year-over-year growth.

Earlier this year, Owji also noted that Iran’s oil exports have reached a five-year high, with 2.7 million barrels produced in the country’s Khuzestan province. 

Despite heavy sanctions imposed on Iran by Washington, Iran has been able to transfer upwards of $2.3 billion in oil to its customers in 2023 without US knowledge.

A report released by the New York Times detailed how Iran used 27 tankers insured by the New York-based American Club to bypass Washington’s watch.

Iran has also bypassed US sanctions by using “ghost fleets,” meaning that a country signs off a shipment of Iranian crude exports as coming from another nation.

The US, in attempts to minimize Iran’s growing power, sent diplomats to Southeast Asia to meet with oil industry experts in order to tighten restrictions on Iran’s oil trade. 

In 2022, Owji said that the world needed Iran’s oil as it was facing an energy crisis. He further stated that Iran was always willing to help provide these energy needs in an attempt to prevent the “politicization of oil and the political use of energy. The global energy market needs to increase the supply of oil and natural gas from Iran.”