US - Iran Relations: Tehran Still Selling Oil In Spite Of US Sanctions, Vice President Jahangiri Says

Iran's Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said Monday that his country will continue to sell oil despite sanctions on its exports and political pressure from Washington.

“Despite America’s pressure ... and its imposed sanctions on our oil exports, we still continue to sell our oil by using other means ... when even friendly countries have stopped purchasing our crude fearing America’s penalties," Jahangiri said on state television.

"They have failed to bring our oil exports to zero as planned," Jahangiri added.

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Tehran after Trump announced last year that the U.S. was pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The deal would reduce sanctions against Iran in exchange for international inspections of the country's controversial nuclear program.

The renewal of sanctions has caused the international community to doubt whether they are an effective tool to reign in Iran's nuclear program. “The good news is, in spite of what the world told President Trump - that American sanctions would not work - the world was wrong. The sanctions have been incredibly effective,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday in Kentucky.

In August, French President Emmanuel Macron invited Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, in an attempt to start diplomatic talks between President Trump and the Iranians. Trump said it was "too soon" for him to meet Zarif.

Trump has called the Iran nuclear deal "one of the worst and most one-sided deals the United States has ever entered into." Trump may have been influenced by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has frequently criticized the deal and praised U.S. withdrawal from the agreement.