Iran has increased its oil exports by 40% following the failure of the U.S. campaign to seize tankers carrying Iranian crude oil. This was reported Wednesday by Mohsen Joyaste Mehr, executive director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).
He added that the steady increase in the Islamic Republic’s oil exports has occurred since the current Iranian government, headed by Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, took over the reins of the country last August.
According to the Persian official, the government’s policy is to reclaim Iran’s share in the global crude oil market and return to export levels before the U.S. sanctions.
“Compared to the start of the new government, exports of gas condensate have increased two and a half times. In crude oil, we have had an overall increase of more than 40% in exports,” he said in this regard.
Referring to the illegal seizure of tankers with Iranian crude oil by the U.S. military, even as the Vienna talks aimed at lifting Washington’s sanctions are underway, the Persian official noted that the “Iranian armed forces, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Naval Force, did not allow the enemy to succeed”.
The increase in exports is another indicator of the failure of the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign, with which the previous U.S. Administration, headed by Donald Trump, intended to “reduce to zero” the sale of Iranian oil. The idea was to force Tehran to renegotiate the nuclear agreement – officially named Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – signed in 2015, from which Washington exited in May 2018.
In recent months, international oil tanker trackers and other observers have confirmed rising Iranian oil exports amid tight global supply that has caused oil to hit multi-year high prices.
Source » telesurenglish