Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that the United States must be prepared for the consequences if they continue with their efforts to prevent Iran from selling its oil globally and blocking countries from using the Strait of Hormuz.
Zarif’s declarations came after the U.S. demanded that all Iranian oil consumers that haven’t yet committed to the U.S.’s sanctions stop purchasing Iranian oil by the start of May. The announcement that the sanction waivers would be ending soon pushed up the oil prices and made them hit their highest level since November last year.
“We believe that Iran will continue to sell its oil. We will continue to find buyers for our oil and we will continue to use the Strait of Hormuz as a safe transit passage for the sale of our oil,” said Javad Zarif during an event at the Asian Society in New York, “If the United States takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that, then it should be prepared for the consequences,” he added.
The Iran nuclear deal demands that Iran curb its nuclear ambitions in exchange for removing economic and financial sanctions. The deal was approved by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and by Iran itself in 2015, however, since Trump took office the United States approach towards the deal and Iran has changed radically. In May 2018 the United States withdrew unilaterally from the Iranian nuclear deal and has since then been trying to pressure Iran to submit to its demands.
Right now, the United States Strategy is pressuring Iran to pull out of the deal, which is still being honored by the Persian country and other developed countries. It is also implied that they're aiming for a regime change.
The re-imposed oil sanctions have made Iran lose about $10 billion in oil revenue said the United States official Brian Hook during a call with reporters this week.