No Oil Will Be Exported from the Gulf, if Iranian Exports are Halted : Iran's President

Iran is likely to disrupt oil shipments from the Persian Gulf if the United States continues with its campaign to halt Tehran’s oil exports.
"We will sell our oil and they (the United States) are not able to stop our oil exports,” said  Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran.
“If the U.S. wants to stop our oil sales, no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf,” added President.
The Trump Administration reimposed sanctions on Iran’s energy, shipbuilding, shipping, and banking sectors, on November 5, as a way of pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear program, development of ballistic missiles and other “malign activities.”Specifically, 50 Iranian banks and their foreign and domestic subsidiaries, as well as over 200 persons and vessels in Iran’s shipping and energy sectors, have been blacklisted.

In the wake of the reimposition of sanctions, the U.S. Department of State’s Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, said that Iranian tankers calling at international ports and passing through waterways pose a major risk as they have lost access to insurance on the international market.

Furthermore, the country’s tanker fleet has been dubbed a floating liability amid reports that Iranian tankers are switching off their AIS transponders at sea as a way of avoiding U.S. sanctions. Namely, when ships go dark it is harder to track their movement and potential breach of sanctions. The tactic has been used during previous sanctions in 2012, Hook said.

By exerting pressure on Iran, the U.S. is trying to isolate the country and expects its oil exports to plummet slashing Iran’s oil revenue. However, Rouhani said on Tuesday that the recent sanctions have not severed ties between Iran and its neighbours.

“America is not able to sever our business relations in the world and the region and they must understand that this land will keep its cultural, political and economic relations with the countries of the region and the world,” he added.

However, Rouhani is quoted as saying at the meeting of the Administrative Council of Semnan Province that Iran would resume talks with the U.S., only “if the U.S. surrenders to what is right.”