The deputy head of Iran’s budget and planning organisation Hamid Pourmohammadi in a report by semi-official Fars news agency said that the country’s oil exports averaged between 600,000 and 700,000 bpd since March despite US sanctions. However, the same media later quoted Pourmohammadi withdrawing his first comments, saying that the figure referred to the export plan for the next Iranian calendar year.
Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh has said that oil export figures would not be released as part of the country’s fight against the US unilateral sanctions. Tehran has repeatedly said that it managed to bypass the “maximum pressure” policy imposed by Washington that targets Iran’s important oil industry. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, the US may be willing to renegotiate with Iran and allow Iranian barrels to return to the market. The prospects of a return of Iranian supplies have worried some OPEC members.
