Iran oil sales to China would continue even if UN sanctions activated, oil minister says

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DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran’s oil sales to China would continue even if U.N. sanctions, are reimposed under a so-called snapback mechanism, Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Wednesday, as Iran and European powers struggle to reach a deal to avert the sanctions. 

The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany – the so-called E3 – along with the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas – held talks with their Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to try and find a solution.

On August 28, the E3 launched a 30-day process to reimpose U.N. sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon. Sanctions will be triggered on September 27 if no deal is struck.

The Europeans are demanding that Iran restore access for U.N. nuclear inspectors to its most sensitive nuclear facilities, address concerns about its stock of enriched uranium, and engage in talks with the United States.

Asked about oil sales to China after potential snapback sanctions, Paknejad said: “They will continue, we have no problem.” 

The triggering of the snapback mechanism won’t add “new burdensome restrictions” on Iran’s oil sales, he added. 

“In the last years, we have faced such severe restrictions from the unjust and unilateral U.S. sanctions that, in practice, [U.N. sanctions] won’t add much to this situation,” Paknejad said.

In 2024, China accounted for nearly four-fifths of Iranian oil exports, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.

(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly, Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Alexandra Hudson)