TEHRAN - Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, the spokesman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis), said the government has achieved some success in selling oil and transferring oil money into the country, Shana reported on Saturday.

“There have been successes in the sale of oil and the transfer of oil money into the country, and this shows that the strategy of the Islamic Republic in developing balanced relations with other countries has had a favorable result,” Abbaszadeh Meshkini said

"Fortunately, despite the U.S. sanctions which seek to isolate the Islamic Republic of Iran, the development of trade relations with other countries, including Central Asian countries, has grown by more than 200 percent," the official added.

Mentioning the ongoing talks between Iran and world powers for reviving the nuclear deal, the official said: “We stressed, in the negotiations, that the priority should be the lifting of sanctions, and the Iranian negotiating team is following up on this issue.”

Earlier this month, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji had also said that the country’s oil sales in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21) increased drastically compared to the previous year.

“The Oil Ministry has published a report on the oil sales as well as the exports of natural gas and petrochemical products over the past 100 days, according to which the figures have increased drastically compared to last year,” Oji said.

Also, in a meeting with the members of the Parliament Energy Committee in mid-November, Oji said that new windows have been opened for the country’s oil sales using the existing capacities and the ministry had achieved new successes in this regard.

Back in September, the minister had said his ministry was determined to increase the country’s oil exports despite the U.S. sanctions, adding that the use of oil sanctions as a “political tool” would harm the market.

“There is a strong will in Iran to increase oil exports despite the unjust and illegal U.S. sanctions; I promise that good things will happen regarding Iran’s oil sales in the coming months,” Oji told the national TV.

EF/MA