US sanctions on Iran's oil sale doomed to fail: Defense minister

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami says the US re-imposition of sanctions on Iran's oil sale and its plot to create economic woes for the Iranian nation will fail just like many other same efforts that were defeated in the past.

Addressing a meeting of senior managers of Iran's Defense Ministry in Tehran on Saturday, Hatami added that the Islamic Republic had succeeded in making numerous achievements in various sectors of the defense industry over the past 40 years despite sanctions.

The US administration said in a statement on April 22 that, in a bid to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero, buyers of Iranian oil must stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions. The move ended six months of waivers, which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers -- Turkey, China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan -- to continue importing limited volumes.

PressTV-US ends sanctions waivers for Iran oil imports

The White House says US President Donald Trump will not reissue waivers for Iran's oil imports.

“The United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ... along with our friends and allies, are committed to ensuring that global oil markets remain adequately supplied,” the White House statement said, adding, “We have agreed to take timely action to assure that global demand is met as all Iranian oil is removed from the market.”

Last November, the US enforced sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s banking and energy sector. However, it granted waivers to the eight major importers of Iran’s oil, fearing market instability.

Iran's First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said on Monday that a recent plan by the administration of US President Donald Trump to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero was doomed to fail, because the Americans ignored the country’s immense economic potentialities.

PressTV-US plan to cripple Iran economy doomed to fail: First VP

The Iranian first vice president says a US plan to cripple Iran's economy is doomed to fail.

"They (Americans) seek to cripple the country’s economy and pile up social pressure [on the government] through reducing the government’s sources of revenue … but thanks to plans made [to counter such measures] this move will certainly fail,” Iran's first vice president said.

Read more:

• US sanctions on Iran's oil industry harm global markets' stability: Official
• Iran to continue oil exports despite US pressure: President Rouhani
• It's impossible to exclude Iran oil from market: OPEC secretary-general
• Iran to respond to threats made by other OPEC members if interests are threatened: Iranian Minister of Petroleum 

Over the past years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing military equipment and hardware despite sanctions and economic pressures on the country.

The Islamic Republic maintains that its military power poses no threat to other countries and is merely attentive to its military doctrine of deterrence.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian defense minister slammed a recent move by the US president to put Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on its blacklist of foreign "terrorist" organizations.

"The IRGC has always been in the vanguard of the fight against terrorism in West Asia," Hatami said.

The US in April officially registered the IRGC as a "foreign terrorist organization," according to a notice published on the website of the US Federal Register.

In response, Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) slammed the US government as "state sponsor of terrorism," designating American forces in West Asia, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), as a "terrorist organization."

In a meeting with IRGC personnel and their family members in the capital Tehran on April 8, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the US decision to designate the IRGC as terrorist was rooted in America’s “rancor” against the force, which had been in the forefront of the fight against enemies.

PressTV-America's move against IRGC rooted in rancor: Leader

Ayatollah Khamenei says the US has decided to label Iran’s IRGC a “foreign terrorist organization” because the force has been on the forefront of the fight against enemies.

“The IRGC is the vanguard both on the field confronting the enemy on [Iranian] borders and even several thousand kilometers away [in Syria] as well as on the political battleground against the enemy,” the Leader said, adding that Americans held a grudge against the force for that reason.

National Iranian Oil Company to open office in Iraq

Meanwhile, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will open an office in Iraq to facilitate operation in the oil-rich country.

For the first time, a meeting was held between Iraq's senior oil officials and their Iranian counterparts on the sidelines of the 24th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition in Tehran on Friday.

Speaking at the meeting, an NIOC manager, Ramin Qalambor Dezfouli, said the plan for opening the office was a step forward to boost interaction between Iranian manufacturers and Iraqi oil industry officials.

"We are looking for strategies that will enable Iranian producers and manufacturers to cooperate with Iraq’s private sector," he added.

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