TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said Tehran will be exporting any amount of crude it wants to, asserting that U.S. attempts to zero out the export of Iranian oil will be fruitless.

In an address to a gathering of workers in Tehran on the occasion of Labor Week, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Iranian nation has proved that it will break any impasse.

Highlighting the failure of hostile plots against Iran over the past forty years, Ayatollah Khamenei said that the U.S. has now focused on economic issues to harm Iran but the Iranians will never be brought to their knees in the face of the “Great Satan”.

The Leader also warned that the enemies’ hostile policies will not go unanswered because the Iranian nation would not stand idle in the face of plots.

Describing a cut in Iran’s reliance on the export of oil as an opportunity, the Leader said such an opportunity will be used for further reliance on internal capabilities.

“Although the sanctions pave the way for problems in certain cases, they will benefit the country if they are dealt with correctly and logically,” Ayatollah Khamenei noted.

The Leader says a cut in Iran’s reliance on the export of oil provides an opportunity to further rely on internal capabilities.

The Leader said materialization of the resistance economy would neutralize the American and Zionist regime’s plots regarding oil export and other economic issues.

Ayatollah Khamenei also rejected claims by the U.S. and the Zionist regime that they are opposed only to the Islamic Republic’s establishment, saying their enmity is targeted at the Iranian nation, because the Islamic Republic is based upon people.

The Leader reiterated the need to draw up plans to boost Iranian-made goods, dynamism at work, and resistance economy to strengthen national dignity and developing immunity to decisions made by the outsiders.

The Leader’s comments came after the White House said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump had decided not to reissue waivers regarding sanctions against countries importing Iranian oil when the waivers expire in early May.

In May last year, Washington unilaterally withdrew from a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran that mainly guarantees Iran’s oil sales in return for a number of concessions by Iran and the lifting of U.S. sanctions on the country.

Tehran and the other parties to the deal, including European countries, have remained in the deal.

Previously, the U.S. had issued waivers to its sanctions for eight major buyers of Iranian crude.

SP/PA