|In this file photo taken on Feb. 23, 2016, birds are resting on oil pipelines on Iran's Kharg Island in the Gulf, which serves as a sea port for the export of Iranian oil. (Xinhua)
TEHRAN, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. claim that it would reduce Iran's oil exports to zero is a "political bluff," head of state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was quoted as saying by Financial Tribune on Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump had been struggling for months to cut off Iranian oil exports, said Ali Kardor, NIOC chief.
"The U.S. president has done all he can and knows very well that bringing Iran's oil export to zero is a political bluff," Kardor was quoted as saying.
He also said that despite the U.S. financial and banking sanctions, Iran does not have any difficulty receiving payment for oil exports and could accept payments in euros instead of U.S. dollars if necessary.
"There is no problem on this issue," Kardor said, adding that with the European support, there will not be a problem.
The U.S. administration has been pushing its allies to cut Iranian oil imports and is encouraging Saudi Arabia, other OPEC states and Russia to pump more oil to meet the shortfall n the global market.
Senior U.S. officials often say that their aim is to cut Iran's oil exports to zero "to force Tehran to change their behavior in the region."
New U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports are set to start from Nov. 4.
