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Zarif to Pompeo: ‘We will sell our oil to any party willing to buy’

September 2, 2019 at 4:04 am

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Warsaw, Poland on 14 February 2019 [Omar Marques/Anadolu Agency]

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday that his country would sell its oil “to any party willing to buy.”

This came in a tweet posted by Zarif in response to the tweet of his US counterpart Mike Pompeo in which he stated that the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya-1 is heading to Syria.

Zarif indicated that the United States is trying to prevent Iran from selling oil to its traditional customers using piracy and threats.

Pompeo tweeted on Friday saying: “Zarif guaranteed to the UK that the IRGC oil tanker AdrianDarya1 would not head to Syria.”

He added: “We have reliable information that the tanker is underway and headed to Tartus, Syria. I hope it changes course. It was a big mistake to trust Zarif.”

The Gibraltar authorities released the tanker in mid-August after being detained since 4 July on suspicions that it was transporting Iranian oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.

The Gibraltar authorities also rejected a US request to confiscate the tanker, due to European legal restrictions.

Following the refusal, a US court issued the confiscation order.

It is noteworthy that Iran changed the name of the tanker from “Grace 1” to “Adrian Darya-1” after the authorities in Gibraltar decided to release it.

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