TEHRAN (Iran News) – Finance minister Ehsan Khandouzi says the country receives revenues of its oil exports no later than 90 days from shipment delivery dates despite American sanctions that restrict both purchases of Iranian oil and the related payments.
In remarks made on Tuesday, Khandouzi suggested that Iran has been paid regularly for oil exports since the current administration came to office in Tehran in August.
He said the government has also managed to access some of the funds that were used to be blocked in foreign bank accounts and were related to Iranian oil exports dating back to before 2018, when the US imposed its sanctions on Tehran.
The remarks come amid statements by senior government officials and media reports showing that Iran has increased its oil exports while being able to receive the revenues despite the US sanctions.
A Monday report by Reuters news agency showed Iranian oil supply to China in May had accounted for nearly 7% of the East Asian country’s total crude imports over that month which amounted to 10.8 million barrels per day.
Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji said on Tuesday that revenues derived from exports of crude, condensate, oil products, natural gas and petrochemical products had increased by 40% year on year in the three months to late June.
Owji on Thursday announced the receipt of $1.7 billion from Iraq for natural gas supplies delivered to the Arab country over the past years.
Government authorities say they expect other customers of Iranian energy, including South Korea, to settle their debts and avoid blaming American sanctions for their inability to pay.
Iran has more than $7 billion worth of funds in two South Korean banks for supplies of crude and condensate that took place before 2018.
Meanwhile Khandouzi defended the government’s decision to eliminate the preferential forex rate of 42,000 tomans per dollar and said this decision will help the national economy and will cut the hands of the smugglers and rant-seekers. He reiterated that people will benefit of this decision because the preferential forex rate jus helped few people to get fatter at the expense of the people’s poverty.
He added that the 13th government is determined to cut dependence of the public livelihood to the imports and oil and the economy should depend on the tax revenues.
Khandouzi went on to say that economic experiences of the country in the past decade should not be repeated in terms of dependence and fragility. He added that the former government was opposed to the tax on the capital earning but the current government supports it but it cannot implement it unless the government approves the law.
