Senior MP: West Unable to Find Long-Time Alternative for Iranian Oil

A senior Iranian legislator described the western states’ oil sanctions against Iran as an “unwise and unstudied” measure, and said the West will not be able to replace Iranian oil for long.

“The West’s efforts to increase the oil production of the Persian Gulf littoral states to find an alternative for Iran’s oil will face failure,” member of the parliament’s Energy Commission Mohammad Saeed Ansari told FNA on Tuesday.

“The oil sanctions against Iran are unwise and an unstudied measure which will knock out the West soon,” he added.

In relevant remarks in July, member of the parliament’s Energy Commission Robert Beglarian also told FNA that “the whole international economic system will be severely damaged by the oil sanctions against Iran”.

“Energy is so important in the world that the whole world’s economic system will be harmed by such sanctions and if Europeans continue the (present) trend (of embargos), Iran’s oil will definitely find its way to alternative markets,” he added.

Reminding Iran’s special geographic position in the region and the world and its closeness to the consuming nations, he said that Tehran can sell its oil at lower costs compared with the farther suppliers and can gain more money by swapping oil supplies and other measures.

Iran announced in July that the oil ministry has worked out proper ways of dealing with the Western sanctions on the Iranian oil sector.

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi said his office has drawn up plans to defuse the western sanctions on Iranian crude supplies.

Qassemi said his ministry is at the forefront of an economic battle with the West.

Qassemi’s comments came two weeks after an EU oil embargo went into effect against Iran for its refusal to give up its uranium enrichment right.

Iranian officials have earlier said they are organizing a consortium of private companies to bypass the embargo. Iran says it can always find buyers for oil.

Also in July, Iran announced that its government and parliament would set up a joint committee to counter the sanctions imposed by the West on the country’s oil supplies.

The joint committee will comprise oil ministry officials, members of the parliament’s energy commission and the national security and foreign policy commission.