Iraq Says No to Western Demands for Making Up for Iran’s Oil Drop

Iraq refused to cooperate with the western sanctions against Iran through a boost in crude production to make up for a fall in Iran’s oil exports.

Iraq’s oil ministry slammed the current critical conditions reining the market due to the EU sanctions on Iranian oil, and stressed that it would not make up for a fall in supply in the global markets.

“Iraq’s oil ministry is pursuing a planned agenda to increase its oil production and exports and it will not change the policy to make up for the lack of the global oil supply due to the imposition of EU sanctions against Iran,” the ministry’s spokesman, Assem Jihad, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Sunday.

He meantime said that exempting certain countries from the oil sanctions against Iran which enables them to purchase Iranian crude will relatively decrease the effects of such sanctions and will compensate for the reduction in supply.

Jihad blasted the western countries for imposing oil sanctions against Iran, and said the impacts of such embargoes can now be seen by the hike in crude prices during the last two days after the sanctions were put into effect on July 1.

Iran, which sits on the world’s second largest reserves of both oil and gas, is facing US sanctions over its civilian nuclear program.

Iranian officials have dismissed the US and EU sanctions as inefficient, saying that they are finding Asian partners instead. Several Chinese and other Asian firms are negotiating or signing up to oil and gas deals.

On Sunday, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi played down the negative impacts of the western sanctions and restrictions on Iranian oil exports, reiterating that Iran is not facing any problem for selling its crude as it can always find new customers, specially from among its regional allies.

Speaking to reporters upon arrival at Shiraz Airport in Southern Iran, Qassemi pointed to enforcement of EU’s sanctions law against Iranian oil supplies, and reminded that the Iranian oil industries have long been under various types of sanctions.

He stressed Iran’s important regional and international role, and noted, “The Islamic Iran is an important country in the region and on the international scene and has many friends. Thus, we do not feel concerned about the sales of Iranian oil.”