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"(Mohammed) bin Salman's remarks and such bragging can only
satisfy (U.S. President Donald) Trump. No one else will believe
him. Iran's oil cannot be replaced by Saudi Arabia nor any other
country," Zanganeh was quoted as saying on his ministry's
website.
Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg on Friday that the kingdom had
met its promise to Washington to make up for Iranian oil
supplies lost through U.S. sanctions, reimposed when the United
States exited a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six powers.
Washington is pushing allies to cut imports of Iranian oil to
zero and will impose a new round of sanctions on Iranian oil
sales in November.
But Iran, OPEC’s third-largest producer, has repeatedly said
that its oil exports cannot be reduced to zero because of high
demand levels in the market and has blamed Trump for an oil
price rally caused by imposing sanctions on Tehran.
"The price hike in the market is the best evidence to state that
... the market faces a supply shortage and it is worried,"
Zanganeh said.
Zanganeh accused Tehran's regional rival Saudi Arabia of bowing
to U.S. pressure, saying such remarks had no "real impact on the
market" but were part of a psychological war launched against
Iran.
"Any country that makes such claims ... just wants to display
its support for the U.S. sanctions against Iran," Zanganeh was
quoted as saying.
"What the Saudis had been supplying the market with, were not
from Riyadh's spare capacity but from tapping its oil stocks,"
Zanganeh said, according to the website.
Iran has warned that if it cannot sell its oil due to U.S.
pressure, then no other regional country will be allowed to do
so either, threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz.
A U.S. government official said on Friday that the
administration was considering waivers on Iran's oil sanctions.
Oil dropped to around $83 a barrel on Monday.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Dale Hudson and Jason
Neely)
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