Iranian vice-president shrugs off impact of Western oil sanctions on Tehran

He told state television’s website: “Today, we are facing the heaviest of sanctions and we ask people to help officials in this battle.”

He said the “dastardly sanctions” might cause “occasional confusion” in the market, but that the Iranian nation would not be stopped. The European Union had said all contracts for importing Iranian oil would have to be terminated by yesterday. European companies will no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil.

The measures come on top of previous sanctions levied by the United States and the West.

US officials say sanctions have cut exports of Iranian crude oil from about 2.5m barrels a day last year to between 1.2 and 1.8 m barrels now. However, on Saturday Mr Bahmani said Iran was “easily” selling its oil as some countries had waivers from the US to import some Iranian oil.

The State Department has announced that China, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan have been given waivers in exchange for “significantly reducing” oil imports.

The sanctions are intended to pressure Iran over fears that it is developing nuclear weapons.