Iran to Continue Oil Sales despite US Obstacles

"The US is making its utmost attempts to prevent Iran's oil sales. They had also earlier tried to deprive us of defense tools in Saddam war and Tehran reactor fuel. (but) We produced them by ourselves and now the US is complaining. We will sell our oil and certainly, the US will find new pretexts for claims in this field," Zarif wrote on his Instagram page on Thursday.

He also blasted the US for attempts to blackmail the Indian captain of the Iranian oil tanker, Adrian Darya, to deliver the tanker's oil to Washington, saying that the White House has declared an award for piracy of the Iranian people's oil.

The Indian captain of Iranian supertanker, Adrian Darya (formerly known as Grace 1), received sanctions threat after he turned down a several-million-dollar US offer in return for steering the vessel to a country that would impound it on behalf of the United States, western media reported on Wednesday.

In early July, British marines and Gibraltar police seized the Iranian tanker off the Southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, claiming that the ship was transporting crude oil to Syria “in violation” of the EU sanctions placed on Damascus. Washington had applauded the move, hailing it as a sign that Europe is on board with the US unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

11 days after Gibraltar's Supreme Court ignored Washington request to detain the vessel for a further period and ruled in favor of releasing the supertanker, and Just four days before the United States imposed sanctions on the Iranian tanker, captain Akhilesh Kumar received an unusual email from US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook.

“This is Brian Hook . . . I work for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and serve as the US Representative for Iran,” Hook wrote to Kumar on August 26, according to several emails seen by The Financial Times, offering the captain a several million dollar fortune in case he takes the vessel to a country that would seize the ship under the US extraterritorial sanctions.

“With this money you can have any life you wish and be well-off in old age,” Hook wrote in a second email to Kumar that also included a warning.

“If you choose not to take this easy path, life will be much harder for you,” the US official warned.

After Kumar failed to respond, Hook emailed him to say that the US Treasury had imposed sanctions on him.

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