Iran Oil Exports rise “significantly” despite US Sanctions

DUBAI/LONDON, Jan 22 (Globe Live Media)- Iran’s oil exports have risen in recent months and its sales of derivatives to foreign buyers hit record levels despite U.S. sanctions, the oil minister said on Friday.

Bijan Zanganeh did not give figures, but said crude exports had increased “significantly” despite tough sanctions imposed since 2018, when the administration of former US President Donald Trump withdrew from a nuclear pact.

“We set the highest export record of refined products in the history of the oil industry during the embargo period,” the minister said, according to his ministry’s SHANA news agency.

Under the sanctions, Iran has tended not to publish official data on exports of oil or products, a pillar of its economy.

Iranian oil exports reached 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2018, but fell to 300,000 bpd in 2020, according to assessments based on monitoring tankers.

Tehran has called on President Joe Biden’s new US administration to return to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, saying it will resume full adherence to the pact limiting its nuclear work if Washington lifts sanctions.

Officials in the Biden administration have said Washington will not make a quick decision on reinstatement.