Iran successfully bypassing oil sanctions: Qasemi

“Following the imposition of these sanctions, we were in bad condition for two months, [but] we’ve managed to weather that dire strait and…today we can export crude oil [again],” Qasemi said on Sunday.

The minister noted that sanctions were imposed by the United States and European countries as a last-resort tool against the Islamic Republic.

He added that the sanctions pursued three objectives, the most important of which was to prevent Iran’s presence in the oil market and disrupt its oil deliveries.

The minister said difficult conditions were created for Iranian oil sector in June 2012, because “no vessel was authorized to sail towards Iran…. Moreover, crude oil tankers were denied insurance coverage at that time.”

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union (EU) imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors.

On October 15, the EU foreign ministers agreed on another round of sanctions against Iran.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence showing that Tehran’s nuclear energy program has been diverted toward military objectives.