Tehran, Iran, May 20
Trend:
Cooperation with neighboring countries could help Iran survive the US sanctions, an Iranian MP believes.
"The US can not reduce Iran 's oil exports to zero," Ali Kazemi Babaheidari, the member of Parliament's Planning and Budget commission, told Trend.
"The only difference between new sanctions and previous ones is the intensity. During previous government the global consensus was against Iran while the European countries added more sanctions. We were able to deal with the problem. However, at one point three was the embezzlement case, caused by Babak Zanjani," he said.
"Iran could face the same obstacles if there's no monitoring of possible abuses and fraud," he said.
" I believe that the US can't reduce Iran's oil exports to zero, there are ways to solve problems, although it is hard, yet not impossible. However, we should be cautious not to repeat previous problems," said Babaheidari.
He went on to add that Iran could rely on "confirmed" individuals that could sell Iran's oil.
"I believe we can sell more oil than our target, and Iran could get neighboring countries involved, such as cooperation with Iraq," he said.
He indicated the losses inflicted on Iran's oil sector by individuals like Babak Zanjani through bypassing sanctions.