Iran says 'having no trouble' selling oil despite sanctions

Haaretz - Iran says it was having no trouble selling oil despite U.S. sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

The Saturday report by the semiofficial Mehr news agency quotes Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani as saying that Iran is "easily" able to sell its oil thanks to countries given waivers by the U.S. to import some oil.

The State Department has announced that China, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Taiwan have received waivers from the U.S. in exchange for "significantly reducing" oil imports.

Bahmani's comments come a day before an EU embargo on imports of Iranian oil goes into effect.

The U.S. and EU measures are intended to pressure Iran over fears that it is developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charges.

Meanwhile, a semiofficial Iranian news agency said Tehran plans to deploy submarines in the Caspian Sea.

The Saturday report by Fars quotes Adm. Abbas Zamini as saying Iran plans to deploy "light submarines" to the oil-rich sea that adjoins Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. He did not elaborate.

Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have soured in the past year. Iran accuses Azerbaijan of harboring anti-Iranian terrorists linked to Israel's Mossad spy agency. Azerbaijan in return says Iran supports Islamist dissidents.
Both countries deny each other's charges.

Earlier this month Iran said it has begun the "initial stages" of designing nuclear-powered submarines.

Iran has domestically built several small submarines over the past years. It has recently overhauled one of the three non-nuclear Russian Kilo-class submarines it bought in the 1990s.