Iran’s foreign ministry has said that Tehran will not allow any country to take away its share of the global oil market.
The United States, which sanctioned Iranian oil exports in November, announced on April 22 that it will stop exemptions temporarily extended to a handful of countries for buying limited amounts of oil from Iran.
Iran reacted harshly to the U.S. decision, since it will take more than a billion dollars of export revenues away from the battered Iranian economy.
Iranian exports have dwindled to around one million barrels a day from a high of 2.5 million from early 2018. With the U.S. move to bring Iranian exports down to zero, Iran can only resort to smuggling to sell any oil.
The Trump administration said that global oil supplies are adequate to allow banning all Iranian exports. It also signaled that Saudi Arabia and others are willing to make up for any shortfall.
The Iranian statement posted on the foreign ministry website on April 25 condemns statements by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain supporting the U.S. move. It also warned the two countries about “the consequences” of their decision.