TEHRAN - A member of Majlis energy committee said the U.S. cannot restrain Iran from exporting its petrochemicals to the global markets, Shana reported.

“Iran’s petrochemical products have many customers across the world and the U.S. pressure on the buyers would not be enough to stop the exports,” Abdolhamid Khedri told the news agency.

He noted that since the buyers need the petrochemical products supplied by Iran in order to produce other necessary items, they won’t stop importing such products just because U.S. asks them to. 

“We shall not consider U.S. threats as being too important or influential; therefore, we can turn the threats into opportunities,” the MP said.

He further said that the global demand for Iran-made petrochemicals has grown in recent years, adding that the high quality of the items produced in Iran is another reason why they sell in international markets.

In late April, General Secretary of Iran's Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporation (APIC) had said that U.S. sanctions were not going to have any significant impact on Iran’s petrochemical exports.

“The mechanisms of petrochemical exports differ significantly from oil exports and therefore U.S. sanctions will have no impact on the production and export of petrochemicals.” Ahmad Mahdavi Abhari said.

Petrochemical industry is one of the most important pillars of Iran’s economy and one of the main suppliers of foreign currency especially euro for the country.

According to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the country is currently producing 62 million tons of petrochemical products annually and with the new projects going on stream the number is expected to jump to 65.5 million tons further cementing the Islamic country’s stance as a major petrochemical supplier to the world markets.

EF/MA