TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran would find gasoline supplies even if the United States imposes sanctions targeting companies that ship fuel to the Islamic Republic, a senior Iranian oil official said on Thursday.

There was “no doubt” that Iran could cope with any such U.S. measure, said Ali Asghar Arshi, executive director for international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC).
“We can manage ... we have alternatives and we can do something about consumption and also production,” Arshi told Reuters. “The market is very big. It is not a market handled by a few companies.”
Iran is the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter but lacks the refining capacity to meet domestic demand so relies heavily on international imports to guarantee fuel at the pumps.
Twenty-five U.S. senators from both parties on Tuesday proposed giving President Barack Obama new leverage in the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program: the authority to sanction companies supplying gasoline to Iran.
The U.S. and a few of its European allies have been pressing Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment activities. However, Iran as a country that has signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), insists that its nuclear activities are solely aimed at producing electricity to meet the nation’s growing demand.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is monitoring all the processes of nuclear activities in Iran by installing cameras and making regular inspections.
The legislation introduced by one-fourth of the U.S. Senate is similar to a bill introduced last week in the House of Representatives.
The bill introduced to the House of Representatives identified six companies that Iran bought most of its gasoline from in the past year. The companies named were oil major BP , Swiss traders Glencore and Vitol, India’s Reliance Industries , French energy group Total and trading firm Trafigura.
The U.S. lawmakers say they are trying to provide the new administration with a tool Obama can choose to use to pressure Iran if efforts to engage Tehran diplomatically stall.
If faced with a choice between doing business with the United States or Iran, House and Senate legislators are betting that most companies will side with the United States, and cripple Iran’s energy sector.
If there was money to be made, suppliers with less exposure to the world’s top consumer would likely step up if others stopped supplies, said Raja Kiwan of consultancy PFC Energy.
“History has shown that despite U.S. pressure, Iran has always found willing suppliers,” Kiwan said.
“Perhaps formalizing this pressure by extending sanctions to include gasoline exports might lead some of the suppliers to rethink their trade relationship with Iran. However, that void could very well be filled by other smaller trading houses or firms with immaterial exposure to the United States.”
During last year’s presidential campaign Obama expressed interest in using Iran’s dependence on imports of refined petroleum products as leverage in the nuclear standoff. But U.S. lawmakers say that under current law his powers to do that are limited.