DUBAI, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Iran will adopt a policy of maximum crude production if the United States lifts sanctions on the country’s oil industry, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Saturday. “Maximum production would be the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum’s policy in case (U.S.) sanctions are eased on Iran‘s oil industry,” the ministry’s official news website SHANA quoted Zanganeh as saying.
Since exiting from Iran‘s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers last year, U.S. President Donald Trump has reimposed sanctions on Iran. He has also introduced other limitations, including threats of sanctions against any country importing oil from Iran, causing a more than 80% drop in the OPEC member’s oil exports.
“Our oil industry is alive, it is active. The U.S. sanctions cannot stop Iran‘s oil exports,” Zanganeh said.
Trump has pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran to try to force it into broader talks to restrict its ballistic missile program and end its support for proxy forces around the Middle East.
But Iran has ruled out talks until all sanctions imposed on it are lifted. European parties to the deal have struggled to calm the deepening confrontation between Iran and the United States.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, editing by Louise Heavens and Christina Fincher)
