Iran vows its oil exports are 'not stoppable' after US sanctions on oil minister

Iran promised to maintain its oil exports and market share on March 15, two days after the US placed sanctions on Iran's oil minister.

Oil exports are "not stoppable," Iran's government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on X, formerly Twitter. "We will not back down on Iran's share in the global oil market."

The sanctions on Mohsen Paknejad were imposed "rashly and impetuously," she said. "It means they feel worried about the oil ministry's activity and dynamism. If the previous sanctions had worked for them, there was no need to update them with new sanctions."

The US Treasury said it was designating Paknejad as a sanctioned individual for overseeing the allocation of some 200,000 b/d of crude oil to the country's various armed forces. Future volumes of crude handed over to the Iranian military to sell could surpass 500,000 b/d, it said, citing recent budget estimates.

Sanctions have failed to put a crimp on Iran's crude production, even with inflation in the double digits. Iran pumped 3.23 million b/d of crude in February, holding above 3 million b/d since September 2023, according to the Platts OPEC+ survey by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

When Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal during his first term in office, Iranian production dropped as low as 1.95 million b/d in August 2020.

The US also imposed sanctions against three vessels as part of the ghost fleet that conducts ship-to-ship (STS) transfer operations outside port limits in Southeast Asia, enabling Iran's attempts to disguise its illicit oil trade.

Iran is trying to work through diplomatic channels to settle disputes over its nuclear program, which it says is for civilian purposes.