Iran reportedly warns a US plan to crush its oil sector is ‘impossible’

Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images

Iranian Revolutionary Guards drive a speedboat in front of an oil tanker at the port of Bandar Abbas.

President Donald Trump’s administration is in no position to reduce Iran’s oil sector to zero, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was cited as saying by a local newspaper on Wednesday.

U.S. officials have urged allies around the world to cut all oil purchases from the world’s fifth-largest crude producer to zero by November. The State Department also warned firms that continue to do business with Tehran could risk punishment.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration re-imposed some economic sanctions against Iran earlier this week, with tougher sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports set to begin later this year.

“If the Americans want to keep this simplistic and impossible idea in their minds they should also know the consequences… They can’t think that Iran won’t export oil and others will export,” Zarif was quoted as saying Wednesday, without specifying what consequences the U.S. could face.

“The Americans have assembled a war room against Iran… We can’t get drawn into a confrontation with America by falling into this war room trap and playing on a battlefield,” he added.