Reuters - A claim by the United States to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero is a “political bluff” the head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Ali Kardor, was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.

U.S. officials have said they aim to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero in an effort to force its leaders to change their behavior in the region. U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports are due to kick in on Nov. 4.

“[U.S. President Donald] Trump started efforts to reduce Iran’s oil exports from months ago and it’s not like we should think that he will do something special on November fourth,” Kardor said. “The president of America has done whatever he can and he knows very well that getting Iran’s oil exports to zero was a political bluff.”

The U.S. administration has been pushing its allies to cut Iranian oil imports and encouraging Saudi Arabia, other OPEC states and Russia to pump more oil to meet any shortfall.



Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh, editing by Louise Heavens