Iran eyes to expand oil exports despite U.S. sanctions: minister

TEHRAN, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Oil Minister Javad Owji said on Friday the country plans to increase its crude production in the absence of any "green light" from the United States for exports, according to the Shana News Agency affiliated to the Iranian Oil Ministry.

Making the remarks in the southwestern province of Fars, Owji said that plans for increasing oil production are drawing up, as Iran owns "customers across the world."

"All these have been accomplished under the tough sanctions (on Iran) and the United States has given no green light and has even imposed 223 additional sanctions," he noted.

Owji put Iran's present oil production at 3.3 million barrels per day, saying favorable moves and achievements have been made in all areas while the sanctions on the country have been intensified.

Figures by consultants and companies that track tanker shipments show jumps in Iran's oil output and exports in recent months.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected the notion that Washington had gradually relaxed some enforcement of the sanctions on Iranian oil exports as part of efforts aimed at a diplomatic rapprochement on Wednesday at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakesh, Morocco.

"We have not in any way relaxed our sanctions on Iranian oil," she said, adding the United States constantly reviews new information that could justify a tightening of sanctions. "We will continue to do that."

The U.S. sanctions on Iran, mainly targeting the country's oil exports and banks, intensified in 2018, following Washington's unilateral withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.