Iranian Oil Minister: West out of aces to play against Iran oil industry

Iran Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says Western governments imposing sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s energy sector have no more aces up their sleeve to play with.

“We have left behind the difficult conditions of the first days of the sanctions and the imposers of sanctions have no more aces up their sleeve to up pressure on Iran’s oil industry,” Qasemi said on Wednesday.

The minister, who was visiting a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the southern Kharg Island, praised Oil Ministry employees for their efforts to thwart sanctions against the country.

Kharg’s LNG, the largest no-flaring project under way in the Persian Gulf, is planned to gather 600 million cubic feet per day (mcfpd) of associated gas. The project, estimated to cost 1.2 billion euros, is financed by Bank Mellat, National Development Fund (NDF) and Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO).

In December 2012, Qasemi said Iran has successfully bypassed sanctions imposed on its energy sector.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union (EU) imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors.

On October 15, 2012, EU foreign ministers agreed on another round of sanctions against Iran.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence showing that Tehran’s nuclear energy program has been diverted toward military objectives.