TEHRAN – Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh criticized Greece and Italy for not buying its oil despite U.S. waivers and said they had not offered Tehran any explanation for their decision.

IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK

“No European country is buying oil from Iran except Turkey,” Oil Minister Zanganeh said in his presser yesterday.

“Greece and Italy have been granted exemptions by America, but they don’t buy Iranian oil and they don’t answer our questions,” he said.

Zanganeh said the U.S. sanctions on Iran were more difficult than the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, but said Tehran will not allow the United States to reduce its oil exports to zero.

“Among the Europeans, except for Turkey, no other nation has purchased oil from Iran. Greece and Italy refuse to buy Iran’s oil despite winning waivers. And they don’t respond to our correspondence,” said the oil minister at a press conference on Tuesday.

He said the U.S. had embarked on a unilateral war against Iran’s petroleum industry.

“They intend to cut our export revenues down to zero, and if any revenue was made, they would block any money transfer,” he added.

Pressed by journalists to say how much oil Iran was exporting after the U.S. reimposed oil sanctions on the country last November, Zanganeh said “I don’t announce any figure about oil exports.”

The minister also said he would not reveal how the ministry would skirt the U.S. sanctions.

Zanganeh further condemned the U.S. sanctions against Venezuela’s state-run oil company; “We condemn the U.S. [punitive] actions against Venezuela. Nonetheless, these actions have affected the oil market,” he said.

He went on to say that currently, Iraq has a $2 billion debt for electricity and gas to Iran.

According to Zanganeh, Iran is aware of the difficulties Iraq faces, yet needs its money back.

He added that Iran currently exports $200 million worth of gas per month to Iraq, but cannot get the money back. Iraq states it is because of imposed sanctions on Iran.

Zanganeh said that discussions with Iraq have always been at odds. While Iran has always been insistent, Iraq has always backed up. Iran had offered Iraq a joint operation of two small fields, which Iraq refused.