Iran is prepared to deal with any possible sanctions on its imports of gasoline that world powers might impose, Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said on Wednesday.
Islamic Republic of Iran News Network quoted Mirkazemi as saying that, "We have stocked relatively enough gasoline and also we have signed deals with some countries such as Venezuela to purchase gasoline."
While Iran is the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, it still has to import up to 40 percent of its gasoline supplies as it lacks the refining capacity to meet domestic demand. The United States and its European allies may target fuel imports, Reuters reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday rejected as "impossible" imposing sanctions on Iran''s gasoline imports, urging the Oil Ministry to build refineries more quickly to make the country self-sufficient in gasoline production, the official IRNA news agency reported.