Iran Vows to Foil US Bid to Block its Oil Exports

Iran vowed Sunday to thwart US efforts to block its oil exports and warned rival OPEC producer Saudi Arabia it would never take Tehran's "place" on the international oil market.

"We will surely do something to thwart the US rallying cry that Iranian oil (exports) must be stemmed," First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri said in statements broadcast on state television.

"The (Iranian) government has a plan... and God willing we are certain that we will be able to sell as much oil as we want," he said.

The United States exited from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May and said it would reimpose economic sanctions on the Islamic republic and its business partners by November 4.

On Tuesday a senior State Department official described tightening the noose on Tehran as "one of our top national security priorities".

The official warned countries including China and India, who are key buyers of Iranian oil, that they should stop purchasing crude from the country before the November deadline or face US sanctions.

European countries have been attempting to negotiate exemptions for their firms, but the official confirmed that US President Donald Trump intends to stick to his deadline. "We're not granting waivers," the official said.

Jahangiri's remarks come a day after Trump said that Saudi Arabia's King Salman had agreed to his request to ramp up oil production.

"Just spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & dysfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference," Trump said in a tweet.

"Prices too high! He has agreed!," Trump added.

Jahangiri said it was not that "simple".

"They're begging the Saudis to raise their output so that if Iran's quota decreases nothing will happen to the markets," said Jahangiri.

"In this battle, any country that tries to take Iran's place on the oil market will be guilty of treason against Iran... and surely one day it will pay the price of this treason," he said.

Iran and Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic relations in 2016 and are locked in several proxy wars in the Middle East, including in Yemen.

Iran possesses the second-largest gas reserves on the planet, after Russia, and the fourth-largest oil supplies, while Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Several Injured During Iran Water Protests

Several people were injured in the southwestern Iranian city of Khorramshahr late Saturday when demonstrators protesting against water pollution clashed with police, Iranian state media reported.

The protesters set fire to rubbish bins and damaged public property, prompting police to fire tear gas to disperse them, state-run IRNA news agency said Sunday.

Officials gave different accounts of those injured during the protest, with Deputy Interior Minister Hossein Zolfaghari saying 11 people were hurt when someone opened fire.

"Ten were members of the security forces" and one was a civilian who was hospitalised, he was quoted by IRNA as saying.

The attacker has not been identified, the news agency said. 

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, meanwhile, said just one person was injured in a "confrontation involving shots."

He denied reports carried by Saudi media that Iranian security forces had shot and killed at least four protesters.

"The statements saying numerous people were killed are false," he said during a press conference.

The unrest erupted after some 500 people, mostly youth, gathered at a main square in the city to protest against pollution that is seeping into the city's drinking water network, IRNA reported. Protesters also gathered outside a mosque, the agency added.

At least one protester was seriously injured in the clashes and "a few policemen" were hurt, the agency said, quoting Khorramshahr deputy governor Valiollah Hayati. "No one has been killed," IRNA said, quoting Hayati.

According to IRNA, there have been several protests against water pollution in Khorramshahr and the neighboring city of Abadan over the past three days.

Iran has been facing mounting economic woes since the United States in May pulled out of a 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers that had lifted international sanctions in exchange for a scaling back of the Islamic republic's nuclear program.

Iran's currency has plunged almost 50 percent in value in the past six months against the US dollar and inflation is on the rise.

Traders in Tehran's Grand Bazaar held a rare strike on Monday against the collapse of the rial on the foreign exchange.

Brief scuffles had also broken out on Monday between protesters and police in the capital.

On Sunday, Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri said in statements broadcast on state television that Iran is suffering from several problems, not just US sanctions.

Among Iran's "woes", he cited its dependence on oil revenues along with a weak private sector and a fragile banking sector. 

Industry Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari told a news conference in Tehran on Saturday that the situation was not "critical" but "special".

He urged foreign firms working in Iran to resist US "threats" of sanctions and to continue doing business in the country.

Photo Credit: UN