TEHRAN – Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said on Friday that Iran will become an economic power after becoming a defense power.

“The enemies should know that in the next couple of years, with stopping its crude oil sales and a revolution in the economic field, Iran will become an economic power after it became a defense power, and their plots in this unwanted and cruel war will fail,” Hatami said, IRNA reported.

The defense minister also warned the enemies that the Iranian nation will not give up and will continue its resistance against sanctions.

After having failed in a hard war against Iran, the enemies are today waging an all-out economic war against the Islamic Republic, Hatami said.

Last month, Head of the Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) Mohammad- Baqer Nobakht said Iran is determined to draft its new budget bill with zero-dependence on oil revenues in a bid to disappoint the U.S. with its maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.

Following the U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration went ahead with re-imposing sanctions on Iran, targeting the country’s energy and banking sectors, and stepping up efforts to drive Iran’s oil revenues to zero.

In April, the White House announced its decision not to renew waivers that allow eight countries, including China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey, to buy Iranian oil without facing U.S. sanctions.

Meanwhile, Iran says with or without waivers, the country’s oil exports will not fall to zero under any circumstances. At the same time, the country is making efforts to reduce its reliance on oil revenues and instead turn its focus on non-oil production and exports.

Back in July, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani underlined the U.S. failure to cut to zero Iran’s oil exports, saying that Washington has been defeated by Iran’s smart moves.

MH/PA