12 December 2018, News Wires — Exports of Iranian oil have improved since early November, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani said in a statement broadcast live on state TV on Tuesday.
The United States imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil industry in early November and U.S. officials have said they want to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero.
Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program in May.
He said the deal was flawed because it did not include curbs on Iran’s development of ballistic missiles or its support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.
“The goal of the Americans was to block our oil exports. I want to say frankly to our people that our oil exports after (Nov. 4) have improved by degrees,” Rouhani said. “So the Americans have been unsuccessful with regard to the oil issue.”
The United States was also unsuccessful in preventing OPEC from cutting production, Rouhani said.
“The Americans were unsuccessful in this OPEC meeting and the Islamic Republic of Iran, fortunately, had some good successes,” Rouhani said. “The process of selling our oil will continue in the same way as it did before this meeting.”
