The head of Irans national oil company admitted on Friday that Iran has systematically bypassed and avoided Western economic sanctions on its oil exports, according to state run media reports.Ahmad Qalebani, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), recently underlined that the Iranian nation will bypass embargoes and problems, according to the state-run Fars News Agency, which reported that Iranian oil reserves stand at approximately $1.8 trillion.
Iran has been able to post a record in terms of the value of its oil discoveries despite the pressure from economic sanctions, Qalebani was quoted as saying.
The Houseoverwhelmingly votedlast month to tighten economic sanctions on Tehran following the appointment of new Iranian President Hassan Rowhani, who has expressed support for the regimes disputed nuclear program.
U.S. lawmakerswarnthat current sanctions have failed to impact Irans ruling regime, a point underscored by Qalebanis most recent comments.
With more than $1.8 trillion in reserves and a global oil market hungry for cheap crude, Iran believes that it can easily continue to ship and sell its product.
I should emphasize that the value of Irans exports of oil, condensates and oil products is higher than the figures envisaged in the budget bill, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Irans Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Governor, wasquotedas saying earlier this month by Fars.
He emphasized the ineffectiveness of the US-led sanctions against Tehran, and said Irans crude export has exceeded the figures envisioned in the countrys budget bill, according to Fars.
Iran remains the second largest oil producer of OPEC right behind Saudi Arabia, Irans oil minister was quoted as saying during a conference earlier this month.
We do not confirm a fall in Irans oil production and this is quite untrue, Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi claimed.
The $1.8 trillion in reserves has been calculated based on the current oil and gas prices, according to Qalebani.
U.S. officials have begun to take an increasingly critical view of Rowhani, who was once dubbed a moderate.
Rowhani has already appointed many controversial officials into his cabinet, including a general who has been tied to the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Lebanon.
Rowhanis pick for oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, has alreadycalled onofficials to close ranks and take united action to neutralize western sanctions on Irans energy sector.
Former Pentagon advisor Michael Rubin said that U.S. officials should be paying attention to these officials.
Its important to take Iranian officials at their word, said Rubin, a former Pentagon advisor on Iran and Iraq. When [former President Ali] Rafsanjani suggested that an Iranian nuclear first strike on Israel might not be a bad idea, he meant exactly that.
When Iranian leaders declared their intent to wipe Israel off the face of the earth in both Farsi and English speeches, they meant exactly that, Rubin said. When Revolutionary Guard commanders say they seek to force Americans to flee beaten and humiliated, they mean just that. And whenregime officialssay sanctions arent having much of an impact, they are also speaking the truth. Perhaps its time to put the crippling in crippling sanctions.
Watchdog groups have presented amounting body of evidencethat implicates several European companies in Iranian oil shipping schemes.
One Swedish shipping company was caught making multiple stops at several Iranian oil ports that are connected with the countrys military.
Rowhani, meanwhile, recentlyappointedformer Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as the next head of Irans Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI).
Salehi, who worked under former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hasclaimedin the past that Iran is the main victim of terrorism.
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By Washington Free Beacon
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