DOHA: International sanctions against Iran are ineffective and it is pressing ahead with imports and exports of gasoline, but it would like the oil price to be higher, its oil minister told Reuters Thursday.
The comments on the sidelines of a meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Doha were Iran’s latest insistence it is coping with waves of sanctions designed to curb a nuclear program Tehran says is purely for peaceful purposes.
“Iran is both importing and exporting gasoline,” Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said in an interview. “If some cargoes are arriving at the ports, then how could the sanctions be effective?”
Iran is the second-largest oil exporter in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the second-biggest gas reserves holder in the GECF, but years of underinvestment in its refining industry made it dependent on gasoline imports.
Iranian officials have said measures introduced this year have made it self-sufficient in gasoline.
Analysts and traders agree imports of gasoline have fallen drastically, but still think Iran needs imports for now.
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