Iran says U.S. sanctions on its oil industry will damage market stability

U.S. sanctions against Iran’s oil industry will damage the stability of global oil markets, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Monday.

“These sanctions are an example of America’s bullying reaction in trying to change the balance of power in the world,” Amir Hossein Zamaninia, a deputy oil minister, said in a report carried by the oil ministry’s news website SHANA.

Oil prices hit their highest level since November last week after Washington announced all waivers on imports of sanctions-hit Iranian oil would end this week, pressuring importers to stop buying from Tehran and further tightening global supply.

The United States demanded last Monday that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers, most of them in Asia, to continue importing limited volumes.

The White House said after its Iran move it was working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure oil markets were “adequately supplied” but traders worried about tight supplies.

Other countries can not fill Iran’s place in the oil market, Zamaninia said, according to SHANA.