Iran will continue to sell oil despite Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’

United States sanctions on Iran’s vital energy and banking sectors were reimposed Nov. 5 but the Islamic republic will sell its oil and break sanctions, Hassan Rouhani, Iranian president said Monday.

“America wanted to cut to zero Iran’s oil sales, but we will continue to sell our oil, to break sanctions,” Rouhani said.

China, India, South Korea, Japan and Turkey – all top importers of Iranian oil – are among eight countries expected to be given temporary exemptions from the sanctions to ensure crude oil prices are not destabilised, Reuters reported.

The restoration of sanctions is part of a wider effort by U.S. President Donald Trump to force Iran to curb its nuclear and missile programmes as well as its support for proxy forces in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East.

“America will not be able to carry out any measure against our great and brave nation. We have the knowledge and the capability to manage the country’s economic affairs,” Bahram Qasemi, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson told state TV on Friday.

In May, President Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a two-year-long diplomatic initiative from Iran and a group of countries known as the P5+1 – the members of the United Nations Security Council (the US, United Kingdom, France, China, Russia) along with Germany. Following this, the US Treasury Department had announced it will restore sanctions on a number of key Iranian sectors and activities on November 5.

The reimposed sanctions came as the U.S. focuses on Tuesday’s congressional and gubernatorial elections. Campaigning in Chattanooga, Tenn., late on Sunday, Trump said his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran was working.

“Iran is a much different country than it was when I took office,” Trump said. “They wanted to take over the whole Middle East. Right now they just want to survive.”

The U.S. said the sanctions are not aimed at toppling Iran’s government, but at persuading it to radically change its policies, including its support for regional militant groups and its development of long-range ballistic missiles.

However, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer and John Bolton, the president’s national security adviser, both have been reported to have made public statements supporting overthrowing Iran’s theocratic government.

Iran is already in the grip of an economic crisis. Its national currency, the rial, now trades at 145,000 to one U.S. dollar, down from when it traded 40,500 to $1 a year ago. The economic chaos sparked mass anti-government protests at the end of last year which resulted in nearly 5,000 reported arrests and at least 25 people being killed. Sporadic demonstrations still continue.

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that Iran should implement policies to safeguard its macroeconomic stability in the face of sanctions.

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU