Iran ready to confront Western oil embargo: minister

Tehran, July 1 (Xinhua-ANI): Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said the Islamic republic is fully ready to confront the West's sanctions on the country's oil industry, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.

Qasemi said Iran's oil has its own markets and the Iranian government has studied all the possible options in confronting the sanctions.

Iran's oil is sold in international markets, Qasemi said, adding that today the Iranian oil is purchased by several European states, some of which have been participating in the development of Iran's oil projects.

"The Islamic republic of Iran has been facing oil sanctions for several years," and oil sanctions have had no effects on the development of the Islamic republic's oil industry, the minister said.

The remarks of Qasemi came as the oil embargo of European Union (EU) on Iran's oil exports is scheduled to take effect from Sunday.

Iran's oil exports to EU stood at 18 percent before the EU oil embargo and the figure is too meager compared to the amount exported to other countries across the globe, the report quoted Qasemi as saying.

Since Iran's oil is both cheap and of high quality, it has numerous customers throughout the world, the minister said, stressing that Tehran has entered negotiations with many new customers of the Iranian oil. (Xinhua-ANI)