“We will use every possible way to export our oil and will not surrender to American pressure. Exporting oil is Iran’s legal right,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry's news portal.
Tehran wants normal ties with all the countries in the Middle East, Zanganeh said, adding that China’s national petroleum company had pulled out of developing Phase 11 of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.
"Domestic companies including Petropars will do the job," Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.
France’s Total S.A. signed a $5 billion agreement in November 2016 to develop SP Phase 11(one of the least developed phases) as head of a consortium that included China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Petropars.
After canceling the agreement to develop the field due to mounting US pressure and new sanctions that forced international firms to walk away from Iran in 2018, the French energy company submitted the project's documents to its partner, CNPC, last October.
Zanganeh said Sunday that the Chinese firm would not cooperate with Iran. He did not provide details.
Iran’s crude oil exports were cut by more than 80% when the United States re-imposed sanctions after President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers last year.
Since then, Washington has re-imposed sanctions on Tehran’s key sectors, namely oil, banking and shipping. In response, Iran has gradually scaled back its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Tehran accepted to curb its nuclear activities in return for lifting international sanctions.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) reiterated on Sunday it would further reduce its commitments under the deal if the European parties to the pact fail to uphold their part of the deal that includes shielding Iran’s economy from the hostile US restrictions.
“We will go ahead with our plans to further curb our commitments to the nuclear deal if other parties fail to keep their promise,” ISNA quoted the AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying.