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DPA
Tehran
The Iranian government has warned that US sanctions on the country's oil sector would lead to"painful months" for consumers worldwide as oil prices rise, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said on Thursday.
According to IRIB News, Zangeneh said that despite the waivers granted to eight countries, oil prices would still increase. He also said that he believes US President Donald Trump only decided to grant the waivers to keep the prices down before the US midterm elections.
Iran's oil exports make up more than half of its foreign revenue.
Washington on Monday fully reimposed sanctions on~Tehran that had been lifted under a multilateral nuclear deal. The nuclear agreement signed in 2015 was meant to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in May, despite no proof Iran violated the agreement.
On Wednesday, Trump said he agreed to grant waivers on~Iran sanctions to a number of countries in order to keep global oil prices low, describing it as a"very fragile market.""I don't want to drive oil prices up to 100 dollars a barrel," Trump said, adding that prices were going down and"that's because of me."
While oil prices initially went down in response to the waivers, Iran says that in the long-term this trend will not continue and prices will rise.
