Despite political and economic pressures on Iran, the country’s oil industry has managed to progress by relying on specialized capabilities and scientific knowledge of its experts, he added on Monday.

"Today despite enormous challenges posed by ill-wishers of the Islamic establishment and foreign arrogant powers and the existence of domestic difficulties, Iran has succeeded to make major breakthroughs in all fields of science and technology by relying on domestic capabilities,” Mousavi said.

The official stated that while focusing on its main tasks for the export and import of crude oil, oil products and gas condensate, the IOTC has taken “effective and positive” steps to indigenize manufacture of about 170 items of equipment required by oil terminals through a systematic and strategic approach.

He added that to do their part in making the Iranian oil industry self-sufficient, oil terminals will make their utmost efforts to indigenize manufacture of goods and equipment.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

On October 15, 2012, the EU foreign ministers reached an agreement on another round of sanctions against Iran.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.