Addressing the WPC Expert Workshop on Monday, Amirhossein Zamaninia, the deputy petroleum minister for international affairs and trading, said, “The idea that some countries can offset shortages caused by removing Iran’s crude oil from the market is both politically and technically unfitting.”

He said the Persian Gulf was considered as an international pathway for transmitting crude oil to other parts of the world only when all the littoral states were able to use it, not just a select number of them, adding, “Desperate times need desperate measures.”

The official said that the European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) were to shoulder the costs of implementing the pact and its ensuing commitments.

He further referred to the somehow-similar oil sanctions on Iran back in the 50s, adding, “It seems the country will be able to overcome the sanctions under the current circumstances.”

Zamaninia also stated that US sanctions on Iran’s oil industry would impact world oil markets as well as making life more difficult for the Iranian people. “These sanctions are the indication of US’s schoolyard bullying reaction to the changes in global balance of power.”