Iran: Selling Crude Oil around US Sanctions

A senior Iranian oil ministry official said Friday that Iran was circumventing U.S. sanctions and selling crude oil in the “grey market”.

The official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran quoted the Deputy Minister of oil, Amir Hussein Zamaniya, as saying that Iran “has mobilized all the resources of the country to sell crude oil in the”grey market”.

Zamaniya did not explain the meaning of “grey market” and disclose details, including crude oil exports.

Last year, the U.S. government withdrew from the comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear issue and resumed sanctions against Iran, including crude oil exports, while granting eight Iranian crude oil importers a months-long exemption from sanctions. In April this year, the United States announced that the exemption would not continue after the expiration of May 1. As one of the means of “extreme pressure” on Iran, this measure aims at completely blocking Iranian crude oil exports and cutting off Iran’s main source of income.

The Iraqi side showed a non-yielding attitude and said it would continue to export crude oil. In an interview with Reuters on April 25, Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif said that “there is always a way to circumvent the sanctions” and Iran will make every effort to continue selling crude oil. Zarif refused to disclose the Iraqi side’s consideration of oil sales.

Zamaniya said on the 5th that Iraqi oil sales in the “grey market” are “not smuggling, but resistance to illegal sanctions from the United States”.