Iran says may stop oil sales if sanctions tighten
Tehran has a contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues, Iranian oil minister says
Iran said on Tuesday it would stop oil exports if pressure from Western sanctions got any tighter and it had a "Plan B" contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues.
"If sanctions intensify we will stop exporting oil," Iranian oil minister Rostam Qasemi told reporters in Dubai.
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"We have prepared a plan to run the country without any oil revenues," he said, adding, "So far to date we haven't had any serious problems, but if the sanctions were to be renewed we would go for 'Plan B'.
"If you continue to add to the sanctions we (will) cut our oil exports to the world."
'Negotiations won't work'
Meanwhile, Uri Lubrani, who was Israel’s ambassador to Iran from 1973 to 1978, told The Daily Beast that the Iran’s reported willingness to engage directly with the United States was yet another sign that sanctions were hurting the regime. But he said with dead certainty that Iran would not agree to stop enriching uranium—no matter what incentives it is offered.
“They are traders in their tradition. They’re bazaaris. They know how to how to haggle, when to catch an adversary when he’s weak. They’re pros,” Lubrani said.
He further added, "Under no circumstances will this regime divest itself of the nuclear program. They’ve gone much too far on it and been too successful. They’re going to continue with it, no matter what."
"No Ivy League graduate will ever really understand the soul and the tradition and the behavior of the Iranians.”
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