Russia has vowed to help Iran counter US attempts to throttle its oil sales when sanctions come into effect next week, saying it will continue trading Tehran’s crude in defiance of Washington.
The US will reimpose sanctions aimed at curbing Iranian oil exports from Monday and the Trump administration has warned Moscow against any actions that could help the Islamic Republic of Iran evade the measures.
But Russia is looking to “continue developing” its trading of Iranian oil, which it sells to third countries under a 2014 deal, regardless of the sanctions, Russia’s Minister of Energy Alexander Novak told the ‘Financial Times’.
“We believe we should look for mechanisms that would allow us to continue developing co-operation with our partners, with Iran, Novak said.
The ministry said it could ‘definitely confirm’ the trade would continue next week.
The 2014 Russia-Iran deal allows for an increase in currently-traded volumes and Iran will be looking for additional buyers if some of its regular customers turn away when the sanctions take effect.
Mr. Novak declined to comment on whether an increase in trading was likely but said Russia would analyze the impact of the sanctions before making any decision on alerting its volume.
“It gives Iran a guaranteed resource to pay, and that allows increasing trade,” Mr. Novak said in an interview in Moscow. “We have historical trade with Iran. Iran needs our technology and services.”
MA/PR